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.