Role of Google Glass in improving patient satisfaction for otolaryngology residents: A pilot study

Objectives To demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the Google Glass as a tool to improve patient satisfaction and patient-physician communication for otolaryngology residents in the outpatient clinic setting. The primary outcome of the study was to improve patient satisfaction scores based on physician communication related questions from Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys. Study Design Prospective randomized trial. Setting Tertiary care hospital. Subject and Methods To evaluate the effect on patient satisfaction, five residents were recorded using the Google Glass in an outpatient clinic setting by 50 randomized patients. Modified surveys based on the CG-CAHPS survey were completed by patients at the conclusion of each clinic encounter. The recorded videos were evaluated by 2 independent faculty. Summarized data and video were distributed to each resident for review as the intervention. The residents were recorded again by 45 additional patients with evaluation by patients and faculty. Results After intervention, the scores from faculty-surveys regarding patient satisfaction including the subject of better explanations (p>0.001), listening carefully (p>0.001), addressing patient questions (p>0.001), displaying respect (p>0.001), and spending adequate time (p=0.0005) all significantly improved, as well as overall performance (p=0.014). The scores from patient-surveys did significantly improve. Conclusion This study demonstrates the improvements in patient satisfaction and patient-physician communication can be achieved with the use of Google Glass as a first person recording device in the outpatient otolaryngology clinic setting. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.