Materials and methods:
Study design and Setting : This survey was conducted at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK. Initially, a written paper survey
form (see figure 1) was distributed among the patients who were using
steroid nasal spray and who came to attend rhinology and immunology
outpatient clinics. But, shortly after this survey started, face to face
patient consultations were stopped due to COVID-19 outbreak. Hence, a
telephonic patient-reported survey was undertaken for the remaining
patients. During the telephonic survey, we made a minor change in the
question 3 of the survey (see figure 1) i.e. patients were asked to
describe the head position, as patients can’t see head position photos
printed on the written survey form. Also, we educated patients about the
correct spray technique while collecting answers for the telephonic
survey.
Participants : As this survey was specifically about the use of
steroid nose spray, non-steroid formulations were not included i.e.
nasal decongestant spray, saline spray etc. Additionally, there is a
minor difference in the way the steroid nasal drops are instilled in the
nose as compared to the spray technique. This survey only included
patients using steroid nose spray, not nasal drops.