Presurgical Assessment Using Telemedicine Technology: Impact on Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Patient Experience of Care

Abstract

PAT utilizing telemedicine reduced overall patient time in the PAT and improved patient satisfaction without increasing the operative case cancellation rate.

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Telemedicine Preoperative Evaluation Initiative at a Major Academic Medical Center

“…This retrospective study represents the largest published case series of telemedicine for preoperative evaluation in a metropolitan, urban, health system. Whereas we used telemedicine in place of in-person visits, in a comparable study, Mullen-Fortino et al 14 used telemedicine consultations inseries and in conjunction with in-person consultation. Additionally, we discuss issues related to patient savings, satisfaction, and cancellation.…”

“…Similarly to other studies, 9 , 12 , 13 patients rated telemedicine consultations favorably. Mullen-Fortino et al 14 showed that 97.5% of patients preferred telemedicine-based applications for anesthesia presurgical evaluation. Of the 131 respondents, 129 of131 participants (98%) “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they were satisfied with a video preoperative consultation, with 120 of131 patients (92%) reporting that they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they preferred these visits in the future.…”

“…Applegate et al 13 performed a randomized controlled trial of 82 telemedicine visits in an academic medical center, compared results to in-person visits in their preanesthesia assessment center, and showed low case cancellations (1/82) and high patient satisfaction. Mullen-Fortino et al 14 used telemedicine consultations inseries and in conjunction with in-person consultation to reduce the consultation time of patients who presented to their preanesthesia assessment center.…”

Telehealth and the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…There were limited reports of the use of telehealth as a full replacement for face-to-face PAT, but these reports indicated that patients had shorter visits, few or no case cancellations, accurate clinical evaluation as compared to face-to-face, and high rates of both provider and patient satisfaction. 16 , 17 Despite the convenience and time-savings, there are certain aspects of PAT that cannot currently be resolved via virtual visit such as direct airway evaluation, laboratory studies, or more sophisticated electrocardiography. More sophisticated remote patient monitoring and increasingly higher quality cameras and videos on mobile devices may address some of these gaps.…”

Contribution of a synchronic teleneurology program to decrease the patient number waiting for a first consultation and their waiting time in Chile

“…Despite, the positive experiences that have previously been reported, regarding significant improvements in the efficiency of patient care by telemedicine programs in other regions [10,18,19], evidence in Chilean teleneurology programs remain unpublished. Moreover, since the implementation of the Teleneurology Program, a seemingly decreasing trend of the number of patients waiting for their first consultation appears to be in contrast with the increasing trend in this figure for the rest of the country.…”