Measurement-based care refers to the use of standardized scales to measure the outcome of @entity146 treatment. Diagnostic heterogeneity poses a challenge toward the adoption of a measurement-based care approach toward outcome evaluation in clinical practice. In the present article, we propose adopting the concept of @entity146 vital signs to facilitate measurement-based care. Medical vital signs are measures of basic physiologic functions that are routinely determined in medical settings. Vital signs are often a primary outcome measure, and they are also often adjunctive measurements. In the present report from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services project, we examined the frequency of @entity308 and @entity148 in a diagnostically heterogeneous group of @entity146 outpatients to determine the appropriateness of considering their measurement as @entity146 vital signs. Three thousand @entity146 outpatients were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV supplemented with items from the Schedule for @entity1316 and @entity161 . We determined the frequency of @entity308 and @entity148 evaluated according to the Schedule for @entity1316 and @entity161 items. In the entire sample of 3000 @entity1 , 79.3% (n = 2378) reported clinically significant @entity308 of at least mild severity, 64.4% (n = 1932) reported @entity148 of at least mild severity, and 87.4% (n = 2621) reported either @entity148 or @entity308 . In all 10 diagnostic categories examined, most @entity1 had clinically significant @entity148 or @entity308 of at least mild severity. These findings support the routine assessment of @entity148 and @entity308 in clinical practice because almost all @entity1 will have these problems as part of their initial presentation. Even for those @entity1 without @entity308 or @entity148 , the case could be made that the measurement of @entity308 and @entity148 is relevant and analogous to measuring certain physiologic parameters in medical practice such as blood pressure and body temperature regardless of the reason for the visit.

Overcoming the problem of diagnostic heterogeneity in applying measurement-based care in clinical practice: the concept of XXXX vital signs.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity308 :: ('MESH:D003866', 'Disease') :: ['depression'] @entity146 :: ('MESH:D001523', 'Disease') :: ['psychiatric'] @entity1316 :: ('MESH:D019964', 'Disease') :: ['Affective Disorders'] @entity148 :: ('MESH:D001008', 'Disease') :: ['anxiety'] @entity161 :: ('MESH:D012559', 'Disease') :: ['Schizophrenia']
@entity146 :: (MESH:D001523,Disease) :: ['psychiatric']
