LumaENT and Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction is an important metric currently used to rate quality of healthcare in
hospitals. Maximizing patient satisfaction scores is therefore significantly beneficial to
any hospital establishment. Recent studies have shown patient satisfaction depends on
multiple factors, including patient involvement in treatment decision-making processes and
patients' knowledge of treatment options. Internal review of departmental patient
satisfaction survey scores revealed deficits in the aforementioned areas of patient
satisfaction, with the domains of "how well concerns were addressed", "explanation of tests
and procedures" and "effort to include patients in decisions" having the lowest scores on
patient satisfaction surveys. This highlights the gap in patient satisfaction that the
Otolaryngology department seeks to improve on, so as to maximize patient satisfaction, and
in turn, the quality of healthcare provided.

The aim of this study is to assess the improvement in patient satisfaction scores that can
be obtained by incorporating LUMA ENT™, a disease-specific multimedia patient education
software, into the treatment decisions for thyroid disorders. LUMA ENT™ is a leading patient
education software that provides visual anatomic animations of disease processes, disease
progression and treatment options to improve patients' knowledge. Thyroid disorders have
been chosen for study due to their high frequency of occurrence in the patient population
and generalizability to a wide medical audience.

The investigators will perform a single-blinded randomized-controlled study of patients
visiting the physician practices of the Department of Otolaryngology for management of
thyroid disorders. Participants will be randomized into control and intervention groups.
Upon completion of the routine physician-patient clinical encounter, the intervention group
will view a 5- minute LUMA ENT™ video discussing their specific thyroid condition, its
natural progression history, and treatment options. They will have an opportunity to ask the
physician any further questions that arise from viewing the video. The control group will
not view the LUMA ENT video. Patient satisfaction surveys will then be provided to both
groups at the end of the visit as is routinely done and scores subsequently compared.