FACE-Q in Facial Reconstructive Surgery: A Prospective Database

Patient perspective is essential as medicine progresses to become more patient centered. FACE-Q is a recently developed and validated patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) tool that allows clinicians to assess patient perspectives after skin cancer surgery of the face. The FACE-Q has more than 40 independent scales and checklist each measuring different patient reported outcomes (PRO).

The FACE-Q utilizes five scales to measure the psychometric, QoL, patient experience, and cosmetic outcomes. The FACE-Q was validated in both surgical and non-surgical patients. This is a single-center project to establish a prospective database of clinical information from patients who utilize FACE-Q in a clinical investigation. This database is being established in efforts to promote research in various patient populations Rationale The purpose of this prospective database would be to evaluate levels of satisfaction and QoL across various interventions and patient populations after using the FACE-Q PROM. Long term data collection will include information related to QoL, patient experience, and cosmetic outcomes. Many areas related to patient reported outcomes in the context of facial reconstruction surgery are in their early years. There are many areas of research needed to aid in clinical decision making. The database will allow these questions to be answered using a retrospective model and will provide the background information required to mount larger scale randomized controlled trials, when possible. Information collected in the database will also allow meaningful research to be conducted in a timely and cost-effective manner. For example database information could help answer, "Which patient characteristics are associated with higher FACE-Q scores in non-melanoma facial cancer patients?". The investigators will initiate a line of investigations that will characterize adults who use the FACE-Q in various clinical contexts with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.

The study was designed in concordance with the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) reporting guidelines using: The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), and Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) statements as well as based off previous prospective studies that used FACE-Q for PROMs.