Smartphone app on par with paper instruction for colonoscopic preparation

Individuals undergoing colonoscopy find smartphone instructions to be as effective as traditional paper instructions for bowel preparation, reports a study.

A total of 238 patients undergoing colonoscopy at a tertiary care hospital were randomly assigned to receive instructions through a smartphone application (Colonoscopic Preparation app; n=119) or traditional paper instructions (n=119).

The quality of bowel preparation as measured by the Boston Bowel Preparation Score served as the primary outcome, while cecal intubation and polyp detection were secondary outcomes. A previously developed questionnaire was used to assess patient satisfaction.

Of the randomized patients, 202 were included in the intention-to-treat analysis: 97 in the smartphone app group and 105 in the paper group. Demographics, indications for colonoscopy, and type of bowel preparation were similar between the two arms.

The quality of bowel preparation did not significantly differ between the app group and the paper group (mean 7.26 vs 7.28; p=0.91). No difference was also seen in cecal intubation (p=0.37), polyps detected (p=0.43), or the mean number of polyps removed (p=0.11).

Notably, a higher proportion of participants either strongly agreed or agreed that they would use the smartphone app rather than the paper instructions (89.4 percent vs 70.1 percent; p=0.001).

“Smartphone instructions performed similarly to traditional paper instructions for those willing to use the application,” the authors said. “Local patient preferences need to be considered before making changes in the method of delivery of medical instructions.”