Elsevier

Injury

Volume 51, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 2816-2821
Injury

The new ‘normal’: Rapid adoption of telemedicine in orthopaedics during the COVID-19 pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2020.09.009Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Patients, when asked if they would complete another telemedicine encounter again, 92.9% (278/299) of patients reported they would.

  • Physicians reported high satisfaction, and that 78.4% of the time a telemedicine encounter was successful in replacing an in-person visit.

  • During our study period, over 600 telemedicine encounters were performed with extremely favourable ratings from patients and physicians.

Abstract

Background

Telemedicine provides a safe and effective means for the delivery of care by physicians amongst many subspecialties. Historically, orthopaedic practices in the United States have not widely utilized telemedicine for the delivery of orthopaedic care. As technology improves the adoption and utilization of telemedicine will likely grow, especially in light of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Our study aims to assess patient and surgeon satisfaction and efficacy of telemedicine during a rapid adoption due to the global pandemic.

Methods

All patients who completed a telemedicine encounter (telephone or video) with an orthopaedic surgeon were contacted. Patients were individually contacted after their visit, and a standardized validated post-visit satisfaction survey was completed. Orthopaedic surgeons completed a standardized post-encounter survey after each visit. Pre-COVID-19 patient satisfaction data was used for comparison.

Results

Orthopaedic surgeons completed 612 telehealth encounters either via phone or video consultation between April 6, 2020 and May 22, 2020. 95% of patients rated both surgeon sensitivity to their needs and response to their concerns as ‘good’ or ‘very good.’ 93% of patients reported they would participate in a telemedicine encounter again. Surgeons reported high satisfaction with telemedicine encounters (80%, 86% phone and video respectively), and that 78.4% of the time a telemedicine encounter was successful in replacing an in-person visit.

Conclusion

Patients and orthopaedic surgeons documented high levels of satisfaction with telehealth encounters during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Telemedicine does not appear to be a replacement for all in-person clinic encounters, however, when used in the appropriate context demonstrated favourable results.

Level of Evidence

Level 4 Study.

Keywords

Covid-19
Telemedicine
Satisfaction
Novel coronavirus
Telehealth

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