Pilot Study Using Telemedicine Video Consultation for Vascular Patients’ Care During the COVID-19 Period

Abstract

Background The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness and patients satisfaction of using telemedicine virtual communications to provide remote health care to vascular patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) period in China. Methods Video calls using WeChat software (Tencent, Shenzhen, China) between patients and vascular surgeons were conducted in a period when there were restrictions and limitations for people’ travels in China. At the end of each video call, a short questionnaire was used to evaluate the patient satisfaction level. Results During the COVID-19 period from 19 February to March 16, 2020, a sample of 114 from 165 (69%) patients was reached after one phone call attempt. One hundred forty-two telemedicine remote communications were made between the two vascular surgeons and 114 patients. The mean age of this cohort of patients were 60 ± 15.2 (range 25 to 90) years old, and 74 (65%) were men. Twenty-five patients (22%) were outside of our province when they received the video call. The mean duration of the video call was 11.0 ± 8.9 minutes. All of the patients thought telemedicine was a good substitute for coming to hospital, and 95% (108/114) of them preferred to have remote telemedicine rather than postpone the appointment. All the patients agreed with the advantages of telemedicine including no infection risks, no need to travel, and no need to wait for long time. All the patients were “satisfied” or “highly satisfied” with the video call and they would like to use telemedicine for follow-up in the future. Conclusions Telemedicine virtual communications was effective to provide remote health care with a high patient satisfaction during the COVID-19 period. Telemedicine offers support to vulnerable vascular patients without the need for travel and face-to-face hospital consultation, and so avoided transmission and infection.

Lessons learned from the resilience of Chinese hospitals to the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

“…The effectiveness of telemedicine interventions was reported in many papers and largely viewed as an effective substitute or complement to onsite healthcare (Shao et al 2020). They were also cited as being popular among the majority of users in a single study (Li, Chan et al, 2020). The introduction of teleconsultations reduced the difficulties of patients with chronic illnesses regarding the management and purchase of medicines (Luo, Chen et al 2020) and the time required for consultation was also further shortened using teleconsultation (Li, Chan et al 2020).…”

“…They were also cited as being popular among the majority of users in a single study (Li, Chan et al, 2020). The introduction of teleconsultations reduced the difficulties of patients with chronic illnesses regarding the management and purchase of medicines (Luo, Chen et al 2020) and the time required for consultation was also further shortened using teleconsultation (Li, Chan et al 2020). Furthermore, the implementation of e-health interventions allowed staff to address the needs of a higher number of patients, reduced hospital load, while also helping to spread understanding regarding the virus risks and public health knowledge (He et al, 2020.…”

“…These factors intensified workload pressures and led to anxiety, insomnia, depression, pain, symptoms of PTSD, and grief. Furthermore, a higher workload led to worse hygiene behaviour, such as reduced adherence to hand-washing guidelines (Li and Chan et al, 2020). As one article explains: "high risk of professional exposure, high workload, transmission of patient anxiety, helplessness towards ineffective treatment of some severely ill patients, etc.…”

“…During the high peak period of patient admissions, the number of staff was increased to provide an appropriate nurse-to-patient ratio, which is essential to ensure that patients receive appropriate care and that the workload of caregivers or staff remains reasonable. For example, in a hospital in Wuhan, each nurse was responsible for 6 to 8 patients (Han, Deng et al 2020).The hospitals also used backup teams, while using shorter shifts and appropriate working hours to reduce risks associated with workload, including lowered quality of work, medical errors, and increased rates of nosocomial transmission (Guo et al, 2020, Li and Chan et al, 2020, Hao, Zhou et al, 2020). platform was also set up to provide medical staff a channel to vent their negative emotions and to offer psychological interventions when needed" (Yang, Zhang et al 2020).…”

“…Impact: Only a few articles evaluated the impact of these strategies on infection rates with most concluding that no medical staff member was contaminated by SARS-CoV-2 during this period. With regards to PPE use, a regression analysis in self-reported compliance with security protocols (Li and Chan et al, 2020) found two seemingly contradictory findings:…”