Assessing outcomes of surgical procedures

The World Health Organization defines QOL as a state of complete physical and social well-being not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.1 The question of who should measure QOL - the doctor or the patient - is important. Patient-selected QOL measures usually focus on physical, psychological and interpersonal well-being, and QOL scales must be divided into disease-specific, function-- specific and population-specific domains. Health-related QOL studies must reflect these 3-dimensional domains: objective, subjective and health specific. The objective QOL domain encompasses general health and functional status, along with social status, whereas the subjective domain deals with life satisfaction and measures of self esteem.