Purpose
Inadequate bowel preparation compromises the efficacy of colonoscopy. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a patient-tailored bowel preparation program designed to improve bowel preparation quality, medication adherence, and dietary adherence among patients undergoing colonoscopy.
Methods
The program consisted of four phases: (1) patient-specific assessment using a checklist; (2) personalized instructional videos; (3) short message service reminders; and (4) nurse-led counseling. A quasi-experimental, nonconcurrent nonequivalent control group, posttest-only design was used, with the control group recruited first. The study was conducted from April to July 2024 at a tertiary hospital in South Korea and included 80 adult outpatients scheduled for colonoscopy (40 control and 40 experimental participants). Outcomes included bowel preparation quality assessed using the Aronchick Bowel Preparation Scale, medication knowledge and adherence, and dietary knowledge and adherence.
Results
The experimental group demonstrated significantly higher bowel preparation quality than the control group (Z=8.13, p<.001, r=0.91). Medication knowledge and adherence were also significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (Z=3.54, p<.001, r=0.40; Z=6.50, p<.001, r=0.73; respectively). Similarly, dietary knowledge and adherence improved significantly in the experimental group compared with the control group (Z=5.28, p<.001, r=0.59; Z=5.32, p<.001, r=0.60; respectively).
Conclusion
The patient-tailored bowel preparation program effectively improved bowel preparation outcomes for colonoscopy. Future research should focus on integrating the program into electronic health records to enable automated delivery and improve efficiency and scalability in clinical practice.