Andrew R Tyser1, James Beckmann2, Cindy Weng2, Andrew O'Farrell2, Man Hung2. 1. University of Utah Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Salt Lake City, UT. Electronic address: Andrew.Tyser@hsc.utah.edu. 2. University of Utah Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Salt Lake City, UT.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To compare the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) patient-reported outcome measure as administered by tablet computer to the traditional paper format. METHODS: In a prospective, randomized study design, 223 consecutive adult patients who presented to the clinic of a single hand surgeon at a tertiary medical center were randomized by visit time to receive the DASH by either paper or tablet computer. Test completeness, time to completion, DASH score, and diagnostic and demographic data were collected and compared between the two cohorts. In total, 120 participants took the DASH using the tablet and 103 using paper. RESULTS: 43% of the paper surveys had at least one question that was omitted, compared with 13% in the tablet group; 14% of the paper surveys were not scoreable (< 27 questions answered) compared with 4% of the tablet surveys. The mean time to complete was 3.1 minutes for the paper version of the DASH and 4.3 minutes for the tablet version. Among our study population, there was no influence of age, sex, or diagnosis category on the time required to complete either version of the test. The mean DASH score was 45 for the paper version and 32 for the tablet version. CONCLUSIONS: The use of digital data entry methods in the arena of health care outcomes research is increasing. Administration of the DASH via a tablet computer resulted in more complete data, slightly increased responder burden, and a lower DASH score. This finding may have important implications for the use of this metric in an electronic format in future research endeavors. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic II.
RCT Entities:
PURPOSE: To compare the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) patient-reported outcome measure as administered by tablet computer to the traditional paper format. METHODS: In a prospective, randomized study design, 223 consecutive adult patients who presented to the clinic of a single hand surgeon at a tertiary medical center were randomized by visit time to receive the DASH by either paper or tablet computer. Test completeness, time to completion, DASH score, and diagnostic and demographic data were collected and compared between the two cohorts. In total, 120 participants took the DASH using the tablet and 103 using paper. RESULTS: 43% of the paper surveys had at least one question that was omitted, compared with 13% in the tablet group; 14% of the paper surveys were not scoreable (< 27 questions answered) compared with 4% of the tablet surveys. The mean time to complete was 3.1 minutes for the paper version of the DASH and 4.3 minutes for the tablet version. Among our study population, there was no influence of age, sex, or diagnosis category on the time required to complete either version of the test. The mean DASH score was 45 for the paper version and 32 for the tablet version. CONCLUSIONS: The use of digital data entry methods in the arena of health care outcomes research is increasing. Administration of the DASH via a tablet computer resulted in more complete data, slightly increased responder burden, and a lower DASH score. This finding may have important implications for the use of this metric in an electronic format in future research endeavors. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic II.
Authors: Matthew D Finkelman; Ronald J Kulich; Stephen F Butler; William C Jackson; Franklin D Friedman; Niels Smits; Scott G Weiner Journal: J Pain Res Date: 2016-12-05 Impact factor: 3.133
Authors: Jacob J Triplet; Enesi Momoh; Jennifer Kurowicki; Leonardo D Villarroel; Tsun Yee Law; Jonathan C Levy Journal: JSES Open Access Date: 2017-04-18