Research Focus

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE) is a progressive, immune-mediated esophageal condition characterized by dysphagia, food impactions, and reflux-like symptoms. EOE can impact patients’ quality of life and may not always be captured during a regular clinic visit. Through effective patient-physician communication, patients can feel empowered to ask questions about their disease, diagnosis, and available therapies. One example of effective patient-physician communication is through use of a Question Prompt List (QPL). This communication strategy is a compilation of disease-specific questions, designed to encourage patients to ask questions and a prior method used by this author in the field of reflux, achalasia, and Barrett’s esophagus.

In this study, we created an EOE QPL to be implemented into standard of care. However before this can be done, we aimed to develop a preliminary EOE QPL among 10 international esophageal experts through use of a modified Delphi method.

• Key findings uncovered by the study are: 
  • Experts suggested 100 different questions and reduced to 51 after modified for redundancy.
  • Questions followed 4 themes: 1) What is EOE, 2) Treatment options, 3) Follow-up surveillance and long-term risks, 4) Allergy and genetic testing.
  • Questions met a Flesch Reading Ease score of 76, corresponding to a 5^th grade level