Introduction A Multicentre survey was undertaken from November 2013 until January 2014 on 80 patients (45f Vs 35m) undergoing oesophageal manometry and/or oesophageal 24 hr pH/impedance study. The aim of this study was to determine the overall wellbeing of the patient during their investigation. Oesophageal intubations are invasive techniques which many patients find quite distressing. These studies require the patient to be alert and to be able to swallow liquid boluses. In order to retain their normal oesophageal function, sedation or oral anaesthetic spray is not routinely administered. This study was compiled to obtain specific patient data from Gastrointestinal (GI) Units throughout Ireland by conducting a survey post patient procedure.

Methods A survey containing short answer questions was devised and GI units providing a service in GI Physiology testing were asked to participate. The patient was asked to answer either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the questions or score the answers to the questions with a value from 0–10 with 10 being the most severe scale of discomfort/anxiety and 0 being the least.

Results Table 1 below shows the results obtained from the multicentre survey.

The reasons given for failed intubations included patient anxiety, nasal sensitivity and previous traumatic Endoscopy experience. With regards to patient anxiety prior to investigation; no option for general anaesthetic, sedation, nasal spray, throat spray, and the fear of the unknown were the main reasons for the high patient anxiety scores.

Conclusion Appropriately trained GI Physiologists achieved a 96.3% rate of successful oesophageal intubations. Despite this, patient anxiety in anticipation of their procedure is relatively high. With the option of a nasal spray, this survey suggests that patient anxiety levels prior to their investigation would be reduced, thus making the intubation a more pleasant, tolerable and less traumatic experience.

Disclosure of Interest None Declared.