Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies

Rationale, aims and objectives: Bowel symptoms are common, and community pharmacies are an ideal setting for health advice about these symptoms. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire for use with adults presenting to community pharmacies with lower bowel symptoms. The pur...

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Main Authors: Sriram, Deepa, McManus, Alexandra, Emmerton, Lynne, Parsons, Richard, Jiwa, Moyez
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27155
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author Sriram, Deepa
McManus, Alexandra
Emmerton, Lynne
Parsons, Richard
Jiwa, Moyez
author_facet Sriram, Deepa
McManus, Alexandra
Emmerton, Lynne
Parsons, Richard
Jiwa, Moyez
author_sort Sriram, Deepa
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Rationale, aims and objectives: Bowel symptoms are common, and community pharmacies are an ideal setting for health advice about these symptoms. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire for use with adults presenting to community pharmacies with lower bowel symptoms. The purpose of the questionnaire was to stratify people into those requiring medical follow-up for symptoms and those with self-limiting symptoms. Method: A self-administered questionnaire, named the Jodi Lee test (JLT), was developed in three stages – review of the literature, questionnaire design and statistical validation – against a validated screening tool, the patient consultation questionnaire (PCQ), to assess the sensitivity and specificity of JLT. The questionnaire was developed to be simple, easy for all pharmacy staff to use and require no score calculation. Its application was designed to facilitate referral from pharmacy assistants to pharmacists and from pharmacists to medical practitioners. Results: The questionnaire comprises eight questions. It has a Flesh–Kincaid reading score of 79.5. By considering different score thresholds on the PCQ, a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to assess the effectiveness of the JLT. From a sample of 118 subjects, the area under the ROC curve was 0.94. At a threshold score of 30 on the PCQ, the sensitivity was 100%. The specificity was 65%. Conclusion: The JLT has high sensitivity for identifying patients with symptoms of serious bowel disease. It is also likely to identify patients who have symptoms of relatively benign disease who would benefit from medical advice.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-271552019-02-19T05:36:13Z Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies Sriram, Deepa McManus, Alexandra Emmerton, Lynne Parsons, Richard Jiwa, Moyez questionnaire community pharmacy primary health care bowel symptoms advice triage Rationale, aims and objectives: Bowel symptoms are common, and community pharmacies are an ideal setting for health advice about these symptoms. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire for use with adults presenting to community pharmacies with lower bowel symptoms. The purpose of the questionnaire was to stratify people into those requiring medical follow-up for symptoms and those with self-limiting symptoms. Method: A self-administered questionnaire, named the Jodi Lee test (JLT), was developed in three stages – review of the literature, questionnaire design and statistical validation – against a validated screening tool, the patient consultation questionnaire (PCQ), to assess the sensitivity and specificity of JLT. The questionnaire was developed to be simple, easy for all pharmacy staff to use and require no score calculation. Its application was designed to facilitate referral from pharmacy assistants to pharmacists and from pharmacists to medical practitioners. Results: The questionnaire comprises eight questions. It has a Flesh–Kincaid reading score of 79.5. By considering different score thresholds on the PCQ, a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to assess the effectiveness of the JLT. From a sample of 118 subjects, the area under the ROC curve was 0.94. At a threshold score of 30 on the PCQ, the sensitivity was 100%. The specificity was 65%. Conclusion: The JLT has high sensitivity for identifying patients with symptoms of serious bowel disease. It is also likely to identify patients who have symptoms of relatively benign disease who would benefit from medical advice. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27155 10.1111/jep.12120 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. fulltext
spellingShingle questionnaire
community pharmacy
primary health care
bowel symptoms
advice
triage
Sriram, Deepa
McManus, Alexandra
Emmerton, Lynne
Parsons, Richard
Jiwa, Moyez
Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
title Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
title_full Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
title_fullStr Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
title_full_unstemmed Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
title_short Development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
title_sort development and validation of a clinical decision-making aid for screening bowel symptoms in community pharmacies
topic questionnaire
community pharmacy
primary health care
bowel symptoms
advice
triage
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27155