Efficiency and satisfaction with telephone consultation of follow‐up patients in neuro‐urology: Experience of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to limit patients' visits to the neuro-urology department. Telemedicine was seen as a pragmatic solution to provide follow-up care. This study aimed to assess the efficiency and satisfaction of a telephone consultation in neuro-urology. Methods: During the pandemic, the scheduled medical visits were converted into telephone consultation. For each teleconsultation, the physician assessed the efficiency and the patient-rated global satisfaction of the teleconsultation. The physician and the patient assessed whether this teleconsultation replaced a physical visit. Results: About 358 neurologic patients were included in the study. The mean efficiency of the telephone consultation was 9.3/10 (±1.5). The mean global satisfaction was 9.0/10 (±1.3). The majority of the patients (52.4%) would prefer a physical consultation. 90.2% might convert some clinic visits to teleconsultations in the future. No agreement was found between the patient and the physician when they were asked if the teleconsultation replaced the physical consultation initially scheduled (weight kappa = 0.02; 95% confidence interval = [−0.06 to 0.11]). Cognitive impairment, difficulty to obtain relevant information, and lack of physical examination were unfavorable to the efficiency of the teleconsultation. Cognitive impairment, embarrassing nature of the teleconsultation, and preference for a physical consultation were unfavorable to satisfaction of the patient. Conclusion: Telemedicine in neuro-urology was associated with a high satisfaction of the patients and was described as efficient by the physicians. Despite this, the majority of the patients reported a preference for physical consultation. The COVID-19 pandemic might be an opportunity to refine our practices in neuro-urology and to develop telemedicine.

Service Process Factors Affecting Patients’ and Clinicians’ Experiences on Rapid Teleconsultation Implementation in Out-patient Neurology Services during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

“…The lack of visual cues interfered with the clinicians' ability to interact with their patients, as they could not access non-verbal communication. This was especially problematic for physicians with patients with hearing or cognitive impairments and those with language barriers [25,42,49]. From the clinicians' perspective, teleconsultation using video platforms had added value by giving them access to non-verbal communication allowing them to visually and verbally assess their patients' responses and reactions.…”

Testosterone replacement therapy in the era of telemedicine

“…Ramaswamy et al [ 24 ] analyzed Press Ganey patient satisfaction surveys from over 38,000 patients including 620 video visits and found that satisfaction scores were significantly higher for video visits compared to in-person visits (94.9% vs 92.5%, P < 0.001). Studies across multiple subspecialty disciplines within urology including urologic oncology, pediatric urology, neuro-urology, and female pelvic and reconstructive medicine have demonstrated high satisfaction rates with telemedicine during the pandemic [ 25 – 29 ]. Most recently, Shiff et al examined patient satisfaction rates in a single andrology clinic and found that the majority of patients were satisfied with a telephone-mediated visit as a substitute for an in-person visit during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Service Process Factors Affecting Patients’ and Clinicians’ Experiences on Rapid Teleconsultation Implementation in Out-patient Neurology Services during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

“…Four studies that used telephone and video modalities indicated that most patients felt communication was effective and su cient with teleconsultations [44,45,53,57]. Contrarily, clinicians expressed more negative experiences towards communication in ve of the studies that used both telephone and video modalities, especially regarding concerns about decreased personal connections and risk of misunderstanding [26,42,49,54,55]. Meeting logistical needs (convenience): A contributing factor A systematic review of telehealth services pre-COVID-19 concluded that convenience (travel-saving, time-saving, and cost-saving) is one of the most signi cant factors in uencing patients' satisfaction [71].…”