Table 3 Electronic validation

Year of birth

One patient misread this as “Where were you born?”

Some patients missed this box or would have if not directed to it. These patients had not noticed the question/box and felt it was not very obvious

To prevent this, consider making this box numerical entry only

A larger box and more separation between this and the next question may help with this

Co-morbidities

Patients were asked to select all co-morbidities relevant to them. If patients did not complete this question, it was not clear if it was because they had no co-morbidities or because they skipped the question

Added a “None of the Above” option to the question

Alcohol consumption

1. Patients were asked to enter the number of units consumed. If patients did not complete this question, it was not clear if it was because they did not consume alcohol or because they skipped the question

2. Several patients were not sure what a unit of alcohol was, and as the descriptive sentence is underneath the answer box, they did not see it while considering the question

3. Some patients found it difficult to work out how much they drink “on average” as some weeks they do not drink while other weeks they may have a glass of wine or two for example

1. Added an option for “none” to the question

2. It was suggested that the description should be added at the end of the question, but before the data entry box. Several patients wondered if alternative wording could be used

3. One patient suggested a monthly average to account for variations, while several patients suggested having a range, i.e. approximately how many units of alcohol do you drink on average per week? 0–5 units, 6–10 units, 11–15 units etc.

Smoking

Patients were asked to enter amount they smoke. If patients did not complete this question, it was not clear if it was because they did not smoke or because they skipped the question

Added an option for “none” to the question

Exercise

Several patients exercised regularly (e.g. 4 × 45 min swims, plus several hours of yoga) and found this difficult to add up in minutes

Patients now have the option of a range of values to select from a drop down list, for example, 1–2 and 2–3 h, to make the question more user friendly