Assessment of communication technology and post-operative telephone surveillance during global urology mission

Rapp, David E.; Colhoun, Andrew; Morin, Jacqueline; Bradford, Timothy J.

doi:10.1186/s13104-018-3256-2

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Telemedicine was used in surgery for clinical care, appointment reminders, patient education, and provider training. Clinical care included pre‐operative assessment ( n = 10, 5.6%) [24–33], post‐operative assessment ( n = 71, 39.9%) [34–105], and provider‐provider consultations ( n = 16, 9.0%) [106–121] (Table 3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telemedicine in Surgical Care in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Scoping Review

et al. 2022

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Background Access to timely and quality surgical care is limited in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Telemedicine, defined as the remote provision of health care using information, communication and telecommunication platforms have the potential to address some of the barriers to surgical care. However, synthesis of evidence on telemedicine use in surgical care in LMICs is lacking. Aim To describe the current state of evidence on the use and distribution of telemedicine for surgical care in LMICs. Methods This was a scoping review of published and relevant grey literature on telemedicine use for surgical care in LMICs, following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews guideline. PubMed-Medline, Web of Science, Scopus and African Journals Online databases were searched using a comprehensive search strategy from 1 January 2010 to 28 February 2021. Results A total of 178 articles from 53 (38.7%) LMICs across 11 surgical specialties were included. The number of published articles increased from 2 in 2010 to 44 in 2020. The highest number of studies was from the World Health Organization Western Pacific region ( n = 73; 41.0%) and of these, most were from China ( n = 69; 94.5%). The most common telemedicine platforms used were telephone call ( n = 71, 39.9%), video chat ( n = 42, 23.6%) and WhatsApp/WeChat ( n = 31, 17.4%). Telemedicine was mostly used for post-operative follow-up ( n = 71, 39.9%), patient education ( n = 32, 18.0%), provider training ( n = 28, 15.7%) and provider-provider consultation ( n = 16, 9.0%). Less than a third ( n = 51, 29.1%) of the studies used a randomised controlled trial design, and only 23 (12.9%) reported effects on clinical outcomes. Conclusion Telemedicine use for surgical care is emerging in LMICs, especially for post-operative visits. Basic platforms such as telephone calls and 2-way texting were successfully used for post-operative follow-up and education. In addition, file sharing and video chatting options were added when a physical assessment was required. Telephone calls and 2-way texting platforms should be leveraged to reduce loss to follow-up of surgical patients in LMICs and their use for pre-operative visits should be further explored. Despite these telemedicine potentials, there remains an uneven adoption across several LMICs. Also, up to two-thirds of the studies were of low-to-moderate quality with only a few focusing on clinical effectiveness. There is a need to further adopt, develop, and validate telemedicine use for surgical care in LMICs, particularly its impact on clinical outcomes. Supplementary Information The online version co...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telemedicine in Surgical Care in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Scoping Review

et al. 2022

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“…Mobile health is increasingly being embedded in healthcare delivery globally and across all specialties ranging from the use of Short Message Service (SMS) to complex applications on smartphones, and helping in bridging gaps in services in developing health systems [24]. Mobile health utilisation in surgical care including children's surgery [25] encompasses surveillance of surgical site infections [26][27][28][29], monitoring post-operative recovery [30,31], improving patient education and uptake of surgery [32], improving patients' return for follow-up care [33,34] and enhancement of follow-up after surgical missions [35,36]. In practice, POTFU augmented with photographs of the wound and video calls is expandable to post-operative monitoring of major surgeries and reduction of unnecessary hospital visits for wound reviews, similar to the report by Chua et al [37].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Post‐operative Telephone Follow‐Up After Paediatric Day Case Surgery

2021

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Background Paediatric day case surgeries (DCSs) are associated with minimal complications therefore the post‐operative follow‐up visit usually serves to calm anxious parents and is replaceable with a phone call. This study examines the safety and reliability of post‐operative telephone assessment by caregivers and its acceptability to them. Methods Parents of DCS patients over a 9‐month period were recruited for telephone follow‐up on third post‐operative day for wound assessment. The remote reports were compared with the finding during the in‐person visit on fourth post‐operative day to determine the reliability of parents’ observation. The parents’ acceptance of telephone follow‐up was also studied. Results The parents of 112 children who had groin surgeries (84%), repair of umbilical hernias (4.5%) and excision of soft tissue masses (11.6%) were recruited. The M:F ratio was 10.2:1. The median age at surgery was 64 months (IQR 43.0–96.8) and median waiting time for surgery was 11.5 months (IQR 3.0–28.8). Most caregivers were mothers (83%) and had a minimum of secondary education (86.6%). The telephone and clinic assessments were matched in 98 of 101 assessed patients. Telephone follow‐up would have sufficed for 104 (92.9%) patients and correctly identified those who needed clinic visits. Majority of parents found telephone follow‐up acceptable in lieu of clinic visit but some preferred to be given a phone number to initiate the call if necessary. Conclusion Telephone call is safe, feasible and acceptable for follow‐up after paediatric DCS. A guided parents’ assessment of the wound is reliable for determining those who need hospital visit.

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“…18 Similarly, a study by Rapp et al reported 51% of patients were compliant with a telephone follow-up 6 weeks after discharge from a urological procedure. 19 It is not possible to fully delineate the likely multifactorial causes underlying the higher contact feasibility found in Cameroon, which may include difference in telephone penetrance over time and in different locations. However, our findings suggest that earlier contact postdischarge may be more feasible than later contact which has the secondary benefit that earlier identification of off-trajectory patients is more likely to result in improved outcomes.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and acceptability of mobile phone-based triage tool to identify discharged trauma patients in need of further care in Cameroon

Richardson,

Oke,

Mbianyor

et al. 2023

Trauma Surg Acute Care Open

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BackgroundLack of routine follow-up for trauma patients after hospital discharge likely contributes to high rates of injury-related complications in Cameroon. Mobile phone contact may facilitate timely follow-up and reduce disability for high-risk patients. A previous single-center study showed promising feasibility of mobile health (mHealth) triage, but generalizability remains unknown. We evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a postdischarge mHealth triage tool at four hospitals in Cameroon.MethodsTrauma patients from four Cameroonian hospitals were contacted at 2 weeks, 1, 3, and 6 months postdischarge. Program feasibility was assessed by calculating the proportion of successful contacts and overall cost. Odds of successful contact were compared using generalized estimating equations across patient socioeconomic status. Acceptability was assessed using a structured patient survey at 2 weeks and 6 months postdischarge.ResultsOf 3896 trauma patients, 59% were successfully contacted at 2 weeks postdischarge. Of these, 87% (1370/1587), 86% (1139/1330), and 90% (967/1069) were successfully reached at the 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month timepoints, respectively. The median cost per patient contact was US$3.17 (IQR 2.29–4.29). Higher socioeconomic status was independently associated with successful contact; rural poor patients were the least likely to be reached (adjusted OR 0.11; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.35). Almost all surveyed patients reported phone-based triage to be an acceptable follow-up method.ConclusionTelephone contact is a feasible and acceptable means to triage postdischarge trauma patients in Cameroon. While scaling an mHealth follow-up program has considerable potential to decrease injury morbidity in this setting, further research is needed to optimize inclusion of socioeconomically marginalized groups.Level of evidenceLevel III, prospective observational study.

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Assessment of communication technology and post-operative telephone surveillance during global urology mission

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Telemedicine in Surgical Care in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Scoping Review

Telemedicine in Surgical Care in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Scoping Review

Parental Post‐operative Telephone Follow‐Up After Paediatric Day Case Surgery

Feasibility and acceptability of mobile phone-based triage tool to identify discharged trauma patients in need of further care in Cameroon

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