Digital training program helps support consistent symptom monitoring in outpatient psychiatry

by Carilion Clinic

edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Alexander Pol

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Questionnaires that track depression, anxiety and other symptoms can help psychiatrists determine whether a patient is improving. But incorporating those measures into routine care requires clinicians to know how to interpret the results and use them in treatment decisions.

A new study led by Carilion Clinic researchers examined whether an online training program could help clinicians use standardized symptom questionnaires in everyday psychiatric care.

Published in Implementation Research and Practice, the study describes the implementation of a digital education platform called Measurement-based Care Training for Resilient Implementation in a Clinical Setting (METRIC). The program was developed to help clinicians consistently incorporate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) into outpatient psychiatric care.

PROMs are standardized questionnaires completed by patients to report symptoms such as depression, anxiety or other mental health concerns. When these measures are used consistently over time to guide treatment decisions, the approach is known as measurement-based care (MBC), which has been shown to improve communication between patients and clinicians and support more informed care decisions.

Although measurement-based care is supported by research, many outpatient psychiatry practices face challenges implementing it consistently.

"Our goal was to create a standardized, accessible way to train clinicians in the use of measurement-based care," said Anita Kablinger, MD, CPI, vice chair for research in Carilion Clinic's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and senior author of the study. "By providing practical instruction through a digital platform, we hope to make it easier for clinics to sustain the use of patient-reported outcome measures as part of daily psychiatric practice."

The METRIC training program combines educational videos, patient simulations, guidance on interpreting symptom measures and practical strategies for handling common clinical situations. Researchers evaluated whether clinicians found the training acceptable, appropriate and feasible to use. The study found that clinicians maintained positive attitudes toward measurement-based care both before and after completing the training.

The successful implementation of METRIC demonstrates that digital training can provide a consistent approach to educating clinicians and may help support the long-term use of measurement-based care in outpatient psychiatry.

The findings also point to opportunities for future research, including identifying which components of the training are most effective, whether periodic refresher training improves long-term adoption and whether specialty-specific training could further enhance implementation.

"This work represents an important step toward making evidence-based measurement practices more sustainable in routine clinical care," Kablinger said. "As health care continues to embrace digital learning tools, programs like METRIC have the potential to improve consistency while supporting both clinicians and patients."

The study adds to the growing body of research focused on improving the implementation of evidence-based practices in behavioral health settings and highlights the role of innovative digital education in advancing quality psychiatric care.

More information

Alyssa J. Gatto et al, Assessing the Implementation of a Novel Digital Measurement-Based Care Training in Behavioral Health Using the PRISM Framework, Implementation Research and Practice (2026). DOI: 10.1177/26334895261456673

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PsychiatryPsychology & Mental health Provided by Carilion Clinic Who's behind this story?

Gaby Clark

MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content. Dedicated to trustworthy science news. Full profile →

Alexander Pol

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