Inflammatory Bowel Disease Care: Development and Testing an Infusion Center Questionnaire for Continuous Quality Improvement

Abstract

Introduction: Approximately 1.3 million people suffer from IBD in the United States. Intravenous biologics are an important part of treatment of IBD patients. Patients treated with biologics spend a significant amount of time in infusion centers. However, there is a lack of existing literature regarding patient perspectives of ambulatory infusion care delivery. We created a novel survey to evaluate differences in perception, comfort and satisfaction among infusion patients receiving care at an office-based infusion center. Methods: Capital Digestive Care Chevy Chase Infusion Center is an office-based facility with 4 chairs in an open space. A validated survey was offered to patients during their infusions. The survey included demographic section, overall satisfaction, statements in 5 categories (Environment, Comfort, Staff, Administration, and Privacy) evaluated with a five-point Likert scale, and open-ended comment sections. Comments were classified as positive, neutral, negative, or suggestion. Results: 100 patients participated in the survey and 82 completed all the Likert scale questions. Of these, 46 were males and 36 were females. The mean and median age were 39.2 and 34.0 yrs, respectively. The median overall satisfaction (scale 1-10) was 9 with an interquartile range of 2. In summary, statements regarding staff were rated the most positive whereas responses in comfort and privacy were mixed (Table 1). Older patients rated the decorating style as significantly less pleasant compared to the ratings of younger patients. Female and male patients had significantly different, non-identical distributions in responses regarding pleasantness of room temperature, preference of others eating in the infusion room, and perception of privacy. Of the 82 participants, 76 provided written comments. Comments about staff dominated the positive category while comments regarding environment and privacy dominated the negative and suggestion categories.1110 Figure 1. Questions and median 5-point Likert Scale responses (5 - strongly agree, 4 - agree, 3 - neutral, 2 - disagree, 1 - strongly disagree)Conclusion: In general, patients were satisfied with their infusion experience but may have differing perceptions of comfort, environment and privacy depending on characteristics such as age or sex. The results will be used to inform the development of a larger, more patient-centered infusion space. The survey can also form the basis of a model to monitor patient satisfaction over time and to assure consistent, high-quality patient care in ambulatory IBD infusion centers.