title: Evaluating the administration of an office-based health survey in a primary care practice.
abstract: Self-administered waiting room questionnaires are popular tools for gathering health information from patients, but these data cannot be used for research purposes without confirming adequate sampling of the practice population and assessing the completeness and accuracy of patients' responses. Long-term data collection also requires avoiding an imposition on clinic operations. We developed a protocol to test these questions in a 9-week pilot study of 884 survey-eligible patients visiting a family practice clinic. We found an adequate proportion of eligible patients were approached (74%) and participated (89%), they provided relatively complete (82-98%) and accurate responses, and the impact on office operations was minimal (<2 min of staff time per participant). Some demographic differences in participation and survey item completion were identified. A systematic process for testing survey performance allowed us to not only document these findings, but also to rapidly identify problems and introduce solutions while the survey was in progress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Practice, Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980251, Richmond, VA 23298, USA. srothemich@hsc.vcu.edu
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Rothemich
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Woolf
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Marsland
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011320:Primary Health Care; D016730:Program Development; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires