Patients' satisfaction with flexible bronchoscopy in a hospital-based community practice

Background: There are no data about patients' satisfaction with a first bronchoscopy in community practice.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the satisfaction with flexible bronchoscopy and the willingness to return for the procedure if needed in hospital-based community practice.

Methods: Prospective administration of a questionnaire before and after flexible bronchoscopy with inclusion of 126 patients in the analysis.

Results: The reliability analysis demonstrated a good internal consistency of the questionnaire with a mean Cronbach α of 0.7 (range 0.63-0.76). Health status and overall satisfaction with bronchoscopy were reported as poor by 31 (25%) and 0 (0%) patients, fair by 34 (27%) and 3 (2%) patients, good by 47 (37%) and 51 (40%) patients and very good by 9 (7%) and 70 (56%) patients, respectively. Overall willingness to return for a flexible bronchoscopy if necessary was 98% (123/126). Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) was the most often performed diagnostic procedure (74/126, 59%). Mean duration of the bronchoscopy in patients with and without TBNA was 30 and 19 min, respectively (p < 0.001). However, TBNA did not influence patient's satisfaction. Preprocedure anxiety was reported by 26 of 51 patients (51%) and 24 of these patients (92%) rated their anxiety as unjustified after the procedure.

Conclusions: Overall satisfaction and willingness to return for a flexible bronchoscopy in community practice are extremely high and these are independent of whether TBNA is undertaken or not.