Telemedicine satisfaction and usage remains high for spine patients post lockdown

15517
Stock Image

The utilisation and satisfaction of telemedicine has remained high among spine patients, even after the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. This is according to a new study, published in the journal Spine by Sheeraz Qureshi (Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, USA) et al, which found that almost a third of spine patients still used telemedicine visits post lockdown.

The retrospective cohort study was designed to define telemedicine utilisation rates during and after the initial height of the COVID-19 lockdown period as well as determine patient satisfaction with telemedicine during and after the initial height of the COVID-19 lockdown period for spine patients at an orthopaedic specialty hospital.

According to the researchers, despite previous studies showing “high patient satisfaction with telemedicine during the initial height of the COVID-19 pandemic”, there exists “limited data about spine telemedicine utilisation and patient satisfaction after the reopening of in-person office visits and easing of restrictions on elective surgical care”.

All patients who had an in-person or telemedicine visit at an urban tertiary specialty hospital from 1 April 2020 to 15 April 2021 were identified. Rates of overall telemedicine utilisation over time were delineated and patient satisfaction with telemedicine, as assessed through a series of questionnaires, was evaluated over time.

Overall, 60,368 patients were identified. Of these, 19,568 patients (32.4%) had a telemedicine visit. During the peak initial coronavirus lockdown period, rate of overall telemedicine utilisation on average was greater than 90%. After the peak period, the rate of overall telemedicine utilisation on average was at approximately 29% of all visits per month. The percentage of patients who would have been definitely comfortable if the telemedicine visit had been in-person increased over the entire study period (p<0.001). Despite this, patient satisfaction based on survey responses remained statistically similar throughout the study period (p>0.05).


LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here