Methods
Ethical Considerations: A project proposal for a randomised prospective study titled ‘Utility of A Dizziness Questionnaire in ENT Balance Assessments in Times of COVID-19’ was submitted and approved by the local Research Operational Committee (ROC) at West Suffolk Hospital.
Participants: All 115 patients who were awaiting a first balance assessment were included in the study. Using Microsoft Excel number generator, patients were randomised to being sent an RDQ in the post or not. 57 patients were randomised to receive a questionnaire (questionnaire group (QG)) and 58 patients did not receive a questionnaire (non-questionnaire group (NQG). The RDQ asks patients 7 sets of close-ended questions regarding their dizziness spells, hearing, other ear symptoms, and any additional symptoms. The 57 patients who were randomised to receiving the RDQ received a letter in the post asking them to complete the questionnaire and return it using a pre-stamped and addressed envelope. If returned in time, the clinician conducting the telephone consultation would read this prior to the consultation. Fifty-eight patients were randomised to not receiving anything in the post.
All telephone consultations were timed and at the end of each consultation a survey s was completed by the clinician. Any patients in the QG who did not return their completed questionnaire were excluded from analysis. Also, any patients where the clinician did not complete the data collection tool were also excluded.
Analysis: The results were then analysed using Microsoft Excel. The response rate (returned completed questionnaires) in the QG was 70% so this was considered a representative sample. As the results constituted categorical data with a small sample size, Fisher’s exact test was used to assess for a statistical difference between the two groups. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.