This study assessed patient and clinician satisfaction with three pharmacological stress agents (PSAs)-- regadenoson (REG), adenosine (ADE) and dipyridamole (DIP)— used in single photon emission computerized tomography myocardial perfusion imaging (SPECT-MPI), a non-invasive imaging test commonly used for the diagnosis and assessment of coronary artery disease. This multisite, non-interventional, non-randomized study involved patients undergoing PSA-facilitated SPECT-MPI and clinicians administering or assisting in the test. Patients completed two patient-reported outcome (PRO) questionnaires: the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ), to assess satisfaction with services provided at the site, and the Patient Satisfaction and Preference Questionnaire (PSPQ), to assess satisfaction specifically with the PSA. Clinicians completed one of two clinician-reported outcome (ClinRO) questionnaires: the Clinician Satisfaction and Preference Questionnaire (CSPQ; for physicians) or the modified CSPQ (mCSPQ; for nurses and technologists) to assess satisfaction utilizing a specific PSA. Differences on the PSPQ and PSQ between the PSAs were assessed using analysis of variance and Tukey tests. Differences on the CSPQ and mCSPQ with the PSAs were reported descriptively. Across 10 sites, 291 patients (n=147, 100, and 44 with REG, ADE and DIP, respectively), and 47 clinicians (physicians n=11; nurses/technologists n=36) participated. Patients receiving REG rated their satisfaction with services experienced at the site (PSQ) more favorably relative to those receiving ADE (p<.05). There were no significant pairwise differences for PSA-related Overall Satisfaction (PSPQ), but patients rated REG more favorably relative to ADE on Satisfaction with Administration (p<.05), and DIP more favorably relative to ADE for Visit Preparation (p<.05). Clinicians reported highest satisfaction for REG on Preparation, Administration, Monitor, Side Effects, and Overall Satisfaction domains of the CSPQ and mCSPQ. This study shows that clinicians and patients have quantifiable differences in satisfaction with PSAs. A cross-over clinical trial would be needed in order to measure actual preference between agents.

This study examined the psychometric properties of scores from three COAs assessing satisfaction with dobutamine for echocardiography. Previous work documented psychometric properties of these COAs to assess satisfaction with PSAs used with single-photon emission computed tomography myocardial perfusion imaging. This evaluation used data from 95 patients and 20 clinicians. Patients completed two questionnaires within 24-hours after the procedure: Patient Satisfaction and Preference Questionnaire (PSPQ) assessing PSA satisfaction, and the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) assessing satisfaction with the site (for concurrent validity). Physicians completed the Clinician Satisfaction and Preference Questionnaire (CSPQ), and nurses/technicians completed the modified CSPQ (mCSPQ), within 2 weeks of site initiation. Though responses sometimes clustered at either the upper or lower end of item scales, results suggest that patients and clinicians utilized the range of responses available. For PSPQ, floor effects for the “Preparation” and “Reaction to Agent” domains were >40%. Ceiling effects for “Administration” “Effects” and “Overall Satisfaction” domains were also >40%, which implied high levels of satisfaction in these areas. For CSPQ, ceiling effects for “Image Quality” was 33.3%. Internal consistency was strong in most instances [PSPQ: “Preparation” (α=.93), “Reaction to Agent” (α=.40); CSPQ and mCSPQ: “Preparation” (α=.99, .99) and “Administration” (α=.93, .92). Inter-item correlations for PSPQ ranged from -0.01 to 0.96, which are small to strong; CPSQ ranged from 0.15 to 0.96, which are small to strong; mCPSQ ranged from 0.81 to 0.99, which are strong. Results suggest that when administered in real-world clinical settings, the PSPQ, CPSQ, and mCPSQ are capable of generating scores across the distribution of available responses (though clustering at upper and lower bound was observed in some instances), that are sufficiently reliable for most research purposes.