Agreement Between Pre-Consultation Client Filled History Questionnaire Responses and Verbal History During a Veterinary Dermatology Consultation.

Background: Pre-consultation client-completed history questionnaires are used in veterinary dermatology to improve consultation efficiency. The agreement between such a questionnaire and verbal history has not been evaluated.

Objectives: To evaluate the level of agreement between responses on a pre-consultation client-completed history questionnaire and the verbal history obtained by multiple clinicians during an initial veterinary dermatology consultation.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, enrolling 130 canine cases by 7 clinicians from 4 different veterinary dermatology specialty clinics. A 16-question online questionnaire was completed by the client. Agreement between the client-completed questionnaire responses and verbal history regarding the same questions obtained by the clinician was determined using a 95% confidence interval. A nonvalidated scoring system categorised agreement as excellent (≥ 90% agreement) and nonexcellent (< 90% agreement). Agreement between clinicians for all questions was calculated using chi-square tests or, if any expected cell counts were < 5, a Fisher's exact test. A significance level of p < 0.05 was used.

Results: One of the 16 questions showed excellent and the remaining questions non-excellent agreement. There was significant variation in agreement between clinicians for all questions (p < 0.001).

Conclusions and clinical relevance: This study revealed varying levels of agreement between questionnaire responses and verbal histories. Multiple questions on the questionnaire may require modification, with most or all requiring further verification during the verbal history. Although questionnaires are useful, they cannot replace thorough verbal history-taking. The observed interclinician variability suggests that clinicians are likely to influence the accuracy and utility of pre-consultation questionnaires.