Introduction
On March 20th 2020, ENT UK recommended to its members
that all routine clinics should be cancelled, and telephone review
should be the first approach for all outpatients who do not need urgent
treatment(1). Our ear, nose and throat (ENT) department sought to reduce
delays and distress to patients by offering telephone assessments for
suitable patients. Evidence supports making dizziness diagnoses from the
medical history (2) alone, making telephone clinics appropriate.
We investigated whether a questionnaire would facilitate assessment and
diagnosis of vestibular disorders over the telephone. Other studies have
used questionnaires to enable diagnosis in patients complaining of
dizziness, but most have focused on a single diagnosis e.g. BPPV (3) or
disease severity(4). We selected a dizziness questionnaire described by
Roland et al add ref because it was short, had been validated by its
developers and was able to differentiate peripheral vestibular pathology
from other causes of dizziness(5). Such a distinction could enable
clinicians to decide whether patients need further investigations, a
face-to-face appointment, or referral to another specialty. This has the
potential to reduce the number of visits to the hospital for each
patient.
The primary objectives of this study were to assess whether use of the
Roland (5) dizziness questionnaire (RDQ): facilitated diagnosis; reduced
the number of investigations and face-to-face appointments; and
increased discharges. Secondarily, clinicians and patients were asked to
rate the questionnaire’s helpfulness.