Patient and physician views on the quality of care for inflammatory bowel disease after one-year follow-up : results from SOLUTION-2, a prospective IG-IBD study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Perception of quality of care is important in the management of patients with chronic diseases, particularly inflammatory bowel disease. AIMS AND METHODS: This longitudinal study aimed to investigate variations of the Quality of Care through the Patients' Eyes (QUOTE-IBD) questionnaire scores one year after the basal evaluation in the Studio Osservazionale quaLità cUre malatTIe crOniche intestiNali (SOLUTION-1) study. RESULTS: Of the cohort of 992 patients, 936 were evaluable. The QUOTE-IBD score overcame satisfactory levels of more than the 80%, overall and in all subdomains except for the "Continuity of Care" sub-dimension (mean, 8.3; standard deviation, 1.49), scored satisfactory only by 34% of the patients. No significant changes in satisfaction were recorded overall, or considering patients subgroups. Significant differences were found at the end of the follow-up between physicians' and patients' perceptions of quality of care, with the former over-rating their performance in "Continuity of Cares" and under-rating "Costs", "Competence", and "Accessibility" sub-domains of the score (p<0.05 for all). CONCLUSION: Perceived quality of care in a large cohort of Italian patients with inflammatory bowel disease remains unchanged after one-year follow-up and was not significantly affected by disease activity or therapeutic interventions. Differences between physicians' and patients' perceptions of quality of care should be taken into account.