Assessment of patient satisfaction with endoscopy using an interactive voice response system

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Health Informatics
• Patient Experience Research

Background:

• Assessing patient satisfaction after endoscopic procedures is crucial for quality improvement.
• Traditional methods like face-to-face interviews can be resource-intensive and may introduce bias.
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems offer a potential automated solution for data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system for patient satisfaction assessment post-endoscopy.
• To determine the concordance between IVR-based assessments and traditional face-to-face interviews.
• To identify factors associated with patient willingness to undergo repeat endoscopic procedures.

Main Methods:

• A dedicated IVR system was developed and offered to patients by 161 gastroenterologists following endoscopic procedures.
• Patients were not sent reminders to call the IVR system.
• Data collected via IVR was compared with face-to-face interview data for concordance.

Main Results:

• 31% of patients spontaneously called the IVR system, with 1052 completing the questionnaire.
• IVR responses showed 98.8% concordance with face-to-face interview data.
• 95% of patients would undergo the procedure again; factors like pre-procedure explanations, male gender, and colonoscopy-specific issues were associated with this willingness.

Conclusions:

• Patient satisfaction assessment after endoscopy is feasible using an IVR system in routine clinical settings.
• The IVR system demonstrated high accuracy and concordance with established assessment methods.
• IVR offers a viable, automated approach to gathering patient feedback in gastroenterology practice.