By introducing the web-based medical questionnaire, we were able to predict diseases such as infections from the pre-visit medical questionnaire, reduce the need for printing and paper management, and reduce the risk of infection from circulating paper questionnaires.
[Hatamichi Otorhinolaryngology | Otorhinolaryngology]
Hakatamichi Otolaryngology is an otolaryngology clinic with a speech pathologist located in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture. We work together with a speech pathologist to help those who are suffering from diseases and functional disorders in the ENT field.
We interviewed Dr. Otsuka, the director of the clinic, about the background of the introduction of the Melp web-based questionnaire and the unique way of using it.
- Could you tell us what made you decide to introduce Melp?
It all started when a friend of mine, who is an otolaryngologist, told me that there was a questionnaire system that allowed payment via the web. Since April this year, I have been using PayPal to pay for telephone consultations, so I thought it would be convenient to incorporate payment into the consultation process.
I thought it would be convenient to incorporate payment into the medical interview.
- When you received the demonstration of Melp, how did you feel?
I felt that the service was easy to understand. The person in charge was also able to answer our questions right away, so we were glad to have our doubts cleared up.
- How do you operate the web-based medical interview system?
We try to have everyone fill out the web-based questionnaire. If you have symptoms such as fever or sore throat that we suspect may be corona, we ask you to wait in the car.
We have a separate entrance to our clinic, so those with suspected corona are asked to enter through a different entrance to avoid spreading the risk of infection.
- Well, I see. Incidentally, there are a lot of elderly patients in the ENT department, how do you deal with them?
About half of the elderly patients are accompanied by their family members, so in that case, we ask them to input the information. For those who don't, our staff will listen to their symptoms while typing. Not all of them, but some in their 70s were able to fill out the web questionnaire by themselves.
- When I look at the questionnaire you created, I get the impression that it is quite detailed. What are the main points you focused on?
For allergic rhinitis, voice disorders, tinnitus, etc., I prepare the medical questionnaire by using as many items as possible from the medical guidelines.
This is to make sure that I don't miss anything during the interview stage when preparing for the conference presentation.
- Well, I see. So you prepare the medical interview with an eye to the conference presentation. When you actually used Melp, how did you find it easy to use?
I liked the fact that there was no more paper.
Until now, we used to prepare paper questionnaires for each symptom, such as throat symptoms and dysphagia. We used to scan the paper questionnaires filled out by the patients and put them into a medical image filing system called RS _Base.
By introducing web-based medical questionnaires, we were able to reduce the hassle of printing and paper management, and reduce the risk of infection caused by turning in paper questionnaires.
I also like the fact that I can put the clinic's logo on the top screen of the questionnaire and change the chat icon, which gives me a lot of flexibility. Because of the detailed web questionnaire, the outpatient service is faster, and because the chat icon is a picture of my face, patients seem to feel that they can fully communicate their symptoms to the doctor.
- Thank you very much. Can you tell us how to improve the Melp?
This is an opinion from the staff, but they said that it would be good if there was a function to easily compare the patient's questionnaire details screen with past questionnaires.
Also, this is an issue of how to create a questionnaire, but depending on how you answer, the same question may come up repeatedly. Right now, when I find the same question that comes up repeatedly, I respond by making the question in the upper level that is tied to it a single choice instead of multiple choices.
Other than that, we would like to enhance the staff interview. There are times when we want to modify the name of the questionnaire for staff (in our case, FILS, SDS, Tinnitus Questionnaire, etc.). However, once the name is set and created, it cannot be modified later.
We sometimes create the same content for staff interview and patient interview (or staff interview to each other), and if we can copy and move the content, it would be great to improve the efficiency of creating interviews.
- Thank you for your feedback. We have received requests from other clinics to copy the content of staff interviews, and we will develop a solution. We also understand about the name change.
It seems that roughly 70-80% of the questionnaires are web-based and the remaining 20% are paper-based.
- Well, I see. Could you tell us what you liked about Melp?
Thank you very much.
I've only been using it for three months, and I recently read the column of examples of how to use the Melp interview, and I've started studying how other doctors make their interviews. Please keep up the good work.