Assessment of participant satisfaction with upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in South Korea

To measure the perceived satisfaction with gastric cancer screening as part of the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) in South Korea.

Data were derived from the participants in a satisfaction survey of the Quality Evaluation of National Cancer Screening in 2009. This is a population-based nationwide telephone survey of participants who were screened by the NCSP between May and October 2009. This study included 4412 participants who provided full sets of data and who had upper endoscopies for the purpose of gastric cancer screening.

The negative appraisal percentages for each of the seven questions were as follows: explanation in preparation for the upper endoscopy, 12.3%; explanation about the process and procedure of the upper endoscopy, 13.8%; explanation about any pain or discomfort related to the upper endoscopy, 27.5%; level of pain during the procedure, 30.3%; physical environment, 16.2%; manner of the staff, 11.2%, and privacy protection, 8.8%.

The critical issues identified by the Pareto analysis include the adequacy of the explanation about any pain or discomfort associated with the upper endoscopy and the level of pain experienced during the procedure.