| Sumario: | The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a new technology that has substantially advanced the integration between the Internet and wireless/cellular communications. In particular, WAP opens novel approaches for the collection and analysis of health care related data. Until recently, patient-centered outcomes instruments predominantly have been used in drug efficacy studies sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry and in health services research. Practicability is the main barrier to be overcome for patient-centered outcomes instruments to become a standard in these fields of application that would significantly advance state-of-the-art. Practicability demands communications fitting the relevant audiences inform and content, i.e. ease of use and handling, balance of scope and specificity as well as immediate feedback to the patient and health care provider. State-of-the-art in current research addressing the balance of scope and specificity of questionnaires are psychometric techniques such as item-response theory and goal attainment scaling. To date, these novel methods still await their breakthrough to widespread use due to the amount of personnel and IT-resources required. WAP can provide these novel methods with a resource effective technical platform to become a standard in out comes assessment. Suffice to say that the expected high penetration of relevant wireless devices among the population will put potentially every patient within the reach of real time data monitoring — employing their own wireless device that they are already accustomed to in daily use.
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