Patient experience as a quality marker in gastrointestinal endoscopy

Patient experience is now recognised as an important aspect of gastrointestinal endoscopy quality. Until recently, procedural comfort was used as the main marker of patient experience, however patient experience is much broader and starts from the moment of referral to the point of receiving procedure results. In order to fully assess and improve patient experience, there is a need for patient-reported experience measures, designed with patient input allowing prioritisation of the elements that matter to patients.

This review defines patient experience in upper and lower Gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. It explores the main aspects of GI endoscopy patient experience, in addition to outlining approaches and available tools to measure experience. Consideration is given to how patient experience measures may be used as quality markers.