Quality of care in inflammatory bowel disease from patient's perspective using QUOTE-IBD: a Greek multicenter prospective study.

Objective: Most of the existing instruments assessing quality of care (QoC) are based on the perception of healthcare providers that may differ from that of healthcare users. We aimed to measure QoC through the patient's eyes in a Greek cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (GR QUOTE-IBD) and to investigate putative sociodemographic and disease-related QoC predictors.

Methods: GR QUOTE-IBD questionnaire was delivered to patients at their regular follow-up visit, and adequate time was offered to fill it in. The outcome of the analysis was associated with epidemiological and disease-related characteristics. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS (version 29, SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).

Results: GR QUOTE-IBD questionnaire was completed by 150 patients from three IBD clinics, 93 with Crohn's disease (CD), with a median disease duration of 10 years (range 0.6-43 years). Quality Index (QI) for total care was >9 in all three hospitals. Quality deficit QI <9 was found only for accessibility to IBD care in two of three clinics. Autonomy in decision-making was rated as the least important dimension of QoC from the patients' perspective. A positive association was found between CD diagnosis and QI scores for total care ( P  = 0.013). Steroid treatment over two times in lifetime was negatively associated with QI scores for total care ( P  = 0.019).

Conclusion: Total QoC from patients' perspective is high in Crete. CD and disease severity seem to affect patients' perceptions of IBD care. Gastroenterologists in Crete should improve accessibility to IBD care and empower patients' involvement in shared decision-making.