Skip to main content
Download PDF

Paired surveys for patients and physiologists in echocardiography: a single-centre experience

Echo Research & Practice volume 6, pages 6–7 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

The British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) highlights the importance of patient questionnaires as part of the quality improvement process, To this end, we implemented a novel system whereby paired surveys were completed by patients and physiologists for transthoracic echocardiography scans, allowing for parallel comparison of the experiences of service providers and end users. Anonymised questionnaires were completed for each scan by the patient and physiologist for outpatient echocardiographic scans in a teaching hospital. In 26% of the responses, patient found the scans at least slightly painful, and in 24% of scans physiologists were in discomfort. The most common reason given by physiologists for technically difficult or inadequate scans was patient discomfort. In 38% of the scans at least one person (the patient or the physiologist) was in at least some discomfort. Comparative data showed that the scans reported as most painful by patients were also reported by the physiologists as difficult and uncomfortable. In summary, these results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing paired surveys. Patient information leaflets by the BSE and National Health Service (NHS) describe echocardiography as painless but the results here indicate this is not always the case.

References

  1. Cheitlin MD, Armstrong WF, Aurigemma GP, Beller GA, Bierman FZ, Davis JL, Douglas PS, Faxon DP, Gillam LD, Kimball TR, et. al. ACC/AHA/ASE 2003 guideline update for the clinical application of echocardiography: summary article: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (ACC/AHA/ASE Committee to Update the 1997 Guidelines for the Clinical Application of Echocardiography). Circulation 2003 16 1091–1110. (https://doi.org/10.1161/01.CIR.0000073597.57414.A9)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Durston W, Carl ML, Guerra W. Patient satisfaction and diagnostic accuracy with ultrasound by emergency physicians. American Journal of Emergency Medicine 1999 17 642–646. (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0735-6757(99)90150-X)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Curuk GN, Tekinsoy Kartin P, Yuceler Kacmaz H. Examination of the anxiety level in patients undergoing transesophageal echocardiography. Echocardiography 2016 33 1860–1865. (https://doi.org/10.1111/echo.13366)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Masani N. The Echocardiography Quality Framework: a comprehensive, patient-centered approach to quality assurance and continuous service improvement. Echo Research and Practice 2018 5 G35–G41. (https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-18-0052)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ingram TE, Baker S, Allen J, Ritzmann S, Bual N, Duffy L, Ellis C, Bunting K, Black N, Peck M, et. al. A patient-centred model to quality assure outputs from an echocardiography department: consensus guidance from the British Society of Echocardiography. Echo Research and Practice 2018 5 G25–G33. (https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-18-0053)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Brocken P, Prins JB, Dekhuijzen PN, van der Heijden HF. The faster the better? A systematic review on distress in the diagnostic phase of suspected cancer, and the influence of rapid diagnostic pathways. Psychooncology 2012 21 1–10. (https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.1929)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Deber R. The patient-physician partnership: changing roles and the desire for information. Canadian Medical Association Journal 1994 151 171–176.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Smith J, Waters S, Campbell B, Chambers J. Communicating echocardiography results to patients: a future role for the clinical scientist? Echo Research and Practice 2017 4 E1–E2. (https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-17-0033)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chambers JB, Lloyd G, Rimington HM, Parkin D, Hayes AM, Baldrock-Apps G, Topham A. The case for a specialist multidisciplinary valve clinic. Journal of Heart Valve Disease 2012 21 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Middleton WD, Payne WT, Teefey SA, Hildebolt CF, Rubin DA, Yamaguchi K. Sonography and MRI of the shoulder: comparison of patient satisfaction. American Journal of Roentgenology 2004 183 1449–1452. (https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.183.5.1831449)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Smith AC, Wolf JG, Xie GY, Smith MD. Musculoskeletal pain in cardiac ultrasonographers: results of a random survey. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 1997 10 357–362. (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0894-7317(97)70073-7)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Harrison G, Harris A. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in ultrasound: can you reduce risk? Ultrasound 2015 23 224–230. (https://doi.org/10.1177/1742271X15593575)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. MacDonald MR, Hawkins NM, Balmain S, Dalzell J, McMurray JJ, Petrie MC. Transthoracic echocardiocardiography: a survey of current practice in the UK. QJM 2008 101 345–349. (https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcm135)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK

    Michael Roshen BA MBBChir & Sophia John BSc

  2. Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK

    Selda Ahmet BSc MSc MBBS, Rajiv Amersey MBBS MD MRCP, Sandy Gupta MD FRCP & George Collins BSc MBBS MRCP PGCert

Authors
  1. Michael Roshen BA MBBChir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sophia John BSc
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Selda Ahmet BSc MSc MBBS
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rajiv Amersey MBBS MD MRCP
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sandy Gupta MD FRCP
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. George Collins BSc MBBS MRCP PGCert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Roshen BA MBBChir.

Rights and permissions

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roshen, M., John, S., Ahmet, S. et al. Paired surveys for patients and physiologists in echocardiography: a single-centre experience. Echo Res Pract 6, 6–7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-18-0064

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-18-0064

Key Words

Echo Research & Practice

ISSN: 2055-0464

Contact us