Medical Outcomes is an independent explainer website about how mental health and medical outcomes are measured. It covers structured psychiatric interviews, assessment and rating scales, the software used to administer and track them, and the research methods behind patient outcomes.
What we cover
- Mental Health: structured diagnostic interviews, screening questionnaires and rating scales, how the DSM and ICD classification systems work, and how reliable psychiatric assessment is.
- Medical Software: the history of computer-assisted diagnosis, electronic clinical outcome assessment, measurement-based care, adaptive testing, telepsychiatry and the privacy rules that apply to clinical tools.
- Health: health outcomes research, patient-reported outcome measures, quality-of-life scales, clinical trial endpoints and how to read the evidence.
Independence
Medical Outcomes is an independent website. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or speaking for the company that previously used this domain, the authors or publishers of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) or any other instrument, or any software vendor, university, hospital or clinic. Instruments, products and organisations are described from their published sources, with attribution, and their names belong to their owners.
The site sells nothing. It offers no software, downloads, licences, registrations or sign-ups, and it cannot supply or license any assessment instrument.
Educational information only
Articles are general educational information. They are not medical advice, and they are not a way to diagnose, screen or treat yourself or anyone else. Questionnaires and interviews described here are meant to be used by trained professionals. If you are worried about your own health or someone else’s, please speak to a licensed clinician. If you are in crisis, contact your local emergency number.
How we write
Articles rely on published sources such as peer-reviewed studies, instrument manuals and validation papers, official classification texts, regulator guidance and trial registries, and link to them. Where the evidence is limited or disputed, articles say so.
Corrections
If you spot an error, please let us know through the contact page.