68% of patients preferred to be administered the electronic-based patient-reported outcome survey either at the office or at home

Recently published data indicated patients preferred electronic questionnaires administered at their homes or physician offices as opposed to being administered a paper questionnaire.

Researchers enrolled 308 patients from three orthopedic outpatient clinics for spine, trauma and upper extremity during a period of 16 months and randomized them to complete either an electronic or paper survey for patient-reported outcomes. After 7 weeks, patients completed the opposite survey. The Penn Shoulder Score (PSS) was used for upper-extremity injuries, the Foot Function Index (FFI) was used for injuries below the knee and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was used for lumbar spine injuries.

Investigators noted all patients completed the SF-36 health status survey, followed by a satisfaction survey about the instruments used. The paper-based method was compared with the electronic-based method.

Findings showed no significant differences between the paper form and the electronic survey with regard to the PSS, FFI and ODI. However, investigators noted significantly more questions were missed on the paper forms for all of the scores and there was a greater chance that the paper forms would be incomplete.

According to researchers, 68% of patients preferred to be administered the electronic-based patient-reported outcome survey either at the office or at home compared with the paper form. In addition, the electronic SF-36 and satisfaction survey was completed by more patients than the paper versions.

This article by Monica Jaramillo was originally published by Healio. To read the full content, please click here