Modes of CollaboRATE administration in chronological order
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Paper survey | A paper-based version of CollaboRATE was given to patients by administrative staff as they left the clinic following their visits. Administrative staff added patient identifiers to the surveys to enable linkage to medical records data. Patients were asked to place completed surveys in a locked receptacle in the clinic. |
| Patient portal | CollaboRATE was delivered using an online patient portal (MyChart), part of the clinic's electronic medical record. The questionnaire was programmed by the medical centre's information systems department. As clinical encounters were completed, emails containing a web link to the CollaboRATE questionnaire were sent to those patients who had portal accounts. |
| Interactive voice response (IVR) | CollaboRATE was delivered to patients using an interactive voice response telephone system programmed by the medical centre's information systems department. An automated telephone call was made to each patient's cell phone at 19:00 on the day of their clinic visit. Before initiating the survey, the respondent was asked to confirm that they were the individual who had visited the clinic that day. On confirmation, numerical keypad responses to CollaboRATE questions were requested. |
| Short message service (SMS text messages) | Text messages, programmed by the medical centre's information systems department, were sent to patient cell phones at 19:00 on the day of their clinical visits. The first message introduced the survey and offered opt-out opportunities. Remaining messages each contained a single CollaboRATE question and response instructions. Subsequent CollaboRATE questions were triggered by each reply, sending a total of four text messages. |
| Tablet and mail | Using tablet computers, research assistants offered patients an opportunity to complete an online version of CollaboRATE hosted in Qualtrics (Provo, Utah, USA) as they left the clinic. Patients were asked for their name, age, gender and to indicate the clinician visited. Patients who declined the tablet opportunity were asked to respond by completing a paper-based survey to be returned in a postage-paid envelope. |