SEVERITY OF A CASE FOR OUTCOME ASSESSMENT IN HEALTH-CARE - DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF INSTRUMENTS

Severity of a case is one of the ingredients in management systems. Se verity adjustment systems have limitations, and confusion and diversit y characterize definitions of severity of a case. These facts may be a consequence of lack of conceptual knowledge. Based on a holistic theo ry of health, we introduce a definition of severity of a case from a p atient perspective. Here severity is characterized as having two basic components: disease severity and illness severity; and five dimension s: suffering, disabilities, risk of suffering, risk of disabilities an d risk of death. A classification of instruments as measures of severi ty dimensions is presented. This classification is based on definition and application criteria. The article's main contribution is to combi ne theoretical and practical knowledge about severity of a case, which may empower implementations of outcome management systems in health c are.