Telephone Appointment Visits for Head and Neck Surgery Follow‐up Care

Abstract

Patients who received telephone appointment visits were statistically significantly less satisfied with all aspects of their follow-up appointment than were patients who had physician office visits. The study findings indicate that telephone appointment visits may not be an ideal type of follow-up visit for all patients. Despite these findings, one third of patients in the treatment group would consider receiving a telephone appointment visit for future routine follow-up care, and 21.9% had no preference, perhaps a factor indicating willingness to receive a telephone appointment for a follow-up visit.

Telehealth and Telenursing Perception and Knowledge Among University Students of Nursing in Poland

“…The current information technology development and awareness could probably double those numbers. Patients are benefited with saving time and money by avoiding clinic visits 10 and the reduction in the need for follow-up outpatient appointments. 11 Their assessment, reassurance, and advising after discharge can be provided by telenursing.…”

Surgeons' and nurses' use of e-mail communication with head and neck cancer patients

“…However, several investigations of postoperative telephone followup reveal that satisfaction with care may be increased when it is an adjunct to and not a replacement for routine office follow-up. [6][7][8] argues for the utility of nurses completing telephone triage after surgery, yet the value she outlines in such an intervention might easily be achieved through E-mail. Whether E-mail communication managed specifically by nurses could offer economies of scale as an adjunct to routine preoperative and postoperative telephone calls requires further investigation.…”

Telenursing: A pilot of telephone review after intra-articular knee injection

“…Outpatient clinic slots can be freed up for new patients (Scott et al, 1998;Eaton et al, 2002;Uppal et al, 2003) and thus reduce waiting times. Patients can save both time and money by avoiding clinic visits (Eaton et al, 2002).…”

“…Outpatient clinic slots can be freed up for new patients (Scott et al, 1998;Eaton et al, 2002;Uppal et al, 2003) and thus reduce waiting times. Patients can save both time and money by avoiding clinic visits (Eaton et al, 2002). For patients who have recently had surgery, telenursing can provide assessment, reassurance and advice for patients after discharge (O'Brien et al, 1999) and reduce the need for follow-up outpatient appointments (Pidd et al, 2000).…”

“…For patients who have recently had surgery, telenursing can provide assessment, reassurance and advice for patients after discharge (O'Brien et al, 1999) and reduce the need for follow-up outpatient appointments (Pidd et al, 2000). Some studies have shown that patients are satisfied with telephone follow-up (Pal, 1998;Weinberger, 1998;Pidd et al, 2000;Uppal et al, 2003) but Eaton et al (2002) found in a study of otolaryngology patients that those who received follow-up care in the form of a physician telephone call were significantly less satisfied with this than patients receiving an outpatient consultation. They postulated that this was because some patients may prefer to see the physician face to face, that the appointment length, which was shorter for the telephone call, may have meant that patients felt they did not have sufficient time to have their questions and concerns addressed, and that some patients had to wait up to 20 min from the agreed call time before they were rung and this may have affected their perception.…”