Patient perspective on telemedicine replacing physical consultations in urology during the COVID-19 lockdown in Denmark

Abstract

Objective: In March-April 2020, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown in Denmark, the Danish Health Authorities recommended that, where possible, face-to-face patientphysician consultations be replaced by telephone consultations. The aim of this study was to obtain patients' evaluation of their telemedicine experience. Methods: Patients who were candidates for telemedicine consultations were recruited based on their urological ailment, necessity for follow-up and comorbidity. New referrals including patients with suspicion of cancer were not candidates for telemedicine. In total, 548 patients had their appointment altered during the period from 13 March to 30 April 2020. Postal questionnaires were sent to 548 patients and 300 (54.7%) replied. Results: In total, 280 patient answered, 224 (80%) men and 56 (20%) women, mean age 69 years (range 18-91) of whom 180 (64.3%) had a benign and 100 (35.7%) a malignant diagnosis. Twenty (6.7%) respondents did not remember their telephone consultation and were therefore excluded. Telephone consultation satisfaction was reported by 230 (85.0%) patients, but they would not prefer video consultations over telephone consultations, and only 102 (36.4%) would prefer telephone consultations in the future. Patients' age, sex and distance to the hospital did not seem to be associated with telephone consultation satisfaction (age p ¼ 0.17; sex p ¼ 0.99; distance p ¼ 0.27, respectively). In total, 226 (80.7%) were medically assessed as being at risk for COVID, but 74 (26.4%) subjectively evaluated themselves as being at risk. Conclusions: In general (85.0%), urological patients were satisfied with telephone consultations.

Patients’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the change to telephone consultations in cancer care

“…While patients acknowledged the advantages of telephone consultations such as the reduced risk of infection and saved transportation time, most patients in our study preferred in-person consultations. This parallels findings from a Danish survey, which found that only 36% of patients with urological cancer were positive towards replacing in-person consultations with telephone consultations [ 24 ], while 67% of patients with hematological cancer were positive towards telephone consultations [ 25 ]. The acceptance of telephone consultations increased with higher levels of education.…”

Telehealth cancer care consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of the experiences of Australians affected by cancer

“…Similar to other countries [ 31 – 33 ], Australia rapidly expanded the use of telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure access to health care while reducing demands on hospitals and limiting social interaction [ 1 ]. However, despite recommendations that telehealth appointments make use of video technology, the majority of telehealth appointments in Australia were conducted via the telephone [ 1 , 7 ].…”

“…To reduce the transactional feeling of telehealth appointments, developing clinicians’ skills in assessing and responding to verbal and nonverbal cues patients provide during a telehealth appointment will be important. Studies have suggested that patients can feel connected and can develop a rapport with doctors when using video- or telephone-based telehealth [ 14 , 33 , 40 , 41 ]. Training for health professionals regarding communication skills for use in telehealth appointments will be important to ensure ongoing quality of care for patients [ 42 ].…”

The Development of Telemedicine and eHealth in Surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

“…In Denmark, replacing in-person meetings with telemedicine has rapidly increased, given the nature of COVID-19. Heeno et al revealed that 85% of the sample population reported satisfaction with telephone consultations, although most preferred video sessions [41]. Another review by Pappot et al showed that Denmark's health practitioners provide training and maintain critical conditions, particularly those involving surgery patients [42].…”