Telemedicine in the era of coronavirus 19: Implications for postoperative care in cardiac surgery

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic forced an unprecedented shift of postoperative care for cardiac surgery patients to telemedicine. How patients and surgeons perceive telemedicine is unknown. We examined patient and provider satisfaction with postoperative telehealth visits following cardiac surgery. Methods: Between April 2020 and September 2020, patients who underwent open cardiac surgery and had a postoperative appointment via telemedicine were administered a patient satisfaction survey over the phone. Time of survey administration ranged from 1 to 4 weeks following their appointment. Surgeons also completed a satisfaction survey following each telemedicine appointment they conducted.Results: Fifty patients were surveyed. Of these, 36 (72%) had a postoperative appointment over the telephone, and 14 (28%) had a postoperative appointment via video-chat. Overall, patients expressed satisfaction with the care that they received via our two telemedicine modalities (mean Likert scale agreement 4.8, SD 0.5).Despite this, 46% of patients said they would prefer their next postoperative appointment to be via telemedicine even if there was not a stay-at-home order in place. All surgeons surveyed reported (agree/strongly agree) that they would prefer to see their postoperative patients using telemedicine.Conclusions: These findings highlight acceptability of continuing telemedicine use in the postoperative care of cardiac surgery patients.

Editorial: Telemedicine in the era of coronavirus 19: Implications for postoperative care in cardiac surgery

“…Dr. Aminah Sallam and colleagues are to be commended on their article titled “Telemedicine in the Era of Coronavirus 19: Implications for Post‐Operative Care in Cardiac Surgery” published in the Journal of Cardiac Surgery 1 …”

Letter to the Editor: Telemedicine in the era of coronavirus 19: Implications for postoperative care in cardiac surgery

“…As medical students based at The University of Manchester, we welcome the article "Telemedicine in the era of coronavirus 19: Implications for postoperative care in cardiac surgery" with great interest. 1 Telemedicine has rapidly expanded to become an integral component of healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, following unprecedented restrictions on social contact. During our medical education, we have observed the impact of telemedicine first-hand during clinical practice with respect to maintaining social distancing measures, maximising resource efficiency and expanding connectivity.…”

Telemedicine in the era of coronavirus 19: Implications for postoperative care in cardiac surgery

“…To the editor, As medical students based at The University of Manchester, we welcome the article "Telemedicine in the era of coronavirus 19: Implications for postoperative care in cardiac surgery" with great interest. 1 Telemedicine has rapidly expanded to become an integral component of health-care delivery during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, following unprecedented restrictions on social contact. During our medical education, we have observed the impact of telemedicine first-hand during clinical practice with respect to maintaining social distancing measures, maximizing resource efficiency, and expanding connectivity.…”