The value of telephone consultations during COVID-19 pandemic. An observational study

Pérez, Francisco F. García; Martín-Escalante, M.D.; Olalla, Julián; Pardal, José Luis Prada; Lucas, María Dolores García de; Vega, Rocío González; Puente, A. Jiménez; García‐Alegría, Javier

doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcab024

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…The tool suggested in this work can be applied in different scenarios of pharmaceutical care. Among possibilities of pharmacist teleconsultation's applications, we can mention the identi cation of inappropriate medication use [20], ADR identi cation [4], [20], [21], the detection of drug-related problems [4], [20], and improved adherence [4]; often with positive feedbacks from patients and professionals about the telemedicine use [12], including phone calls [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Telepharmacy To Support Patients Using Oral Antineoplastic Agents: A Pilot Study

Wergles

Guilarducci

Fernandez

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Purpose This study aims to use teleconsultation to perform pharmaceutical consultations with patients using oral antineoplastic agents, to identify their profile, and carry out activities to support the correct treatment.Methods The telepharmacy flowchart was designed considering the steps of a pharmaceutical consultation. A pilot study was carried out with 66 patients from a military hospital, who had been using oral antineoplastic agents for at least 3 months. Adherence was measured using a self-report semi-structured survey, medication possession ratio (MPR), and the proportion of days covered (PDC). The interventions were carried out through structured phone calls. Results Sixty-seven percent were male, and 33% were aged 65 to 75 years. According to the survey, 16 patients adhered to the oral antineoplastic agent. Based on MPR and PDC, 53 and 52 patients showed good persistence, respectively. When all methods were applied together, 9 patients were adherent. On average, each patient regularly uses 4.73 medicines. Most patients (83 %) reported adverse effects during treatment. Five hundred eighty-one pharmaceutical interventions were carried out, most of them corrective (29%) and related to the correct drug administration technique (29 %).Conclusions The proposed tool helped establish good communication with patients, obtain desired data, and carry out relevant interventions. However, it is necessary to carry out further consultations to verify whether the patients were able to apply the suggested recommendations in practice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Telepharmacy To Support Patients Using Oral Antineoplastic Agents: A Pilot Study

Wergles

Guilarducci

Fernandez

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…The study further depicts that 12.0% of adults also avoided urgently or emergency care, and just under a third of adults (31.5%) avoided routine care. A study comparing health facility visits from March to May 2020 with in-person visits during the same period in 2019, the results showed a reduction of 52% and 47% of emergency department visits and hospital admissions was observed compared to in-person visits (p < 0.01) [3]. The study also found that, of 120 patients surveyed, 95% were satisfied/very satisfied with the telephone visits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…According to authors such as Martos-Pérez et al and Downes et al, telephone consultations could ease up the overburdened healthcare system [3][4][5]. A study by Bokolo found that telemedicine and virtual software as one of the contributing factors to the decrease in the number of visits to emergency rooms [6].…”

Section: Virtual Consultations During Emergenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study by Bokolo found that telemedicine and virtual software as one of the contributing factors to the decrease in the number of visits to emergency rooms [6]. Accordingly, outpatient in-person visits can be converted to telephone visits [3].…”

Section: Virtual Consultations During Emergenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of virtual platforms such as telephones for consultations has also been well received by physicians, who have used them widely, and they have been highly rated by patients [9]. A survey conducted in 2020 of 120 patients surveyed showed that 95% were satisfied/very satisfied with the telephone visits [3]. The study also surveyed 26 physicians and found that 84.6% of them considered telephone visits were useful to prioritise patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Telephone Consultations by Medical Scheme Patients Consulting General Medical Practitioners, South Africa

Willie¹,

Nonyana²,

Kabane³

2022

Primary Health Care

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Background: The COVID-19 climate has seen a shift in the manner that patients seek care. Lockdown measures and COVID-19 regulations, and the fear of contracting the virus at a health care facility has also changed health seeing behaviour among patients. The COVID-19 climate has seen a significant increase in the utilisation of virtual platforms to consult with providers. Objectives: The objective of this chapter was to conduct the descriptive analysis of telephonic consultations by members of medical schemes who consulted general medical practitioners. Methods: The study entailed a descriptive analysis of medical scheme claims data for the 2020 review period. The inclusion criteria were all National Pharmaceutical Product Interface (NAPPI) codes associated with a telephonic consultation consulting general medical practitioners. The ICD-10 code primary diagnosis was used to describe the diagnosis. The study mainly focused on outpatient patients with service dates between March and December 2020. Results: The analysis covered claims data from a total of 12 medical schemes. The schemes analysed accounted for 1,6 million lives. The total number of telephonic consultations was 17 237. The mean (SD) claimed amount for telephone consultation for a general medical practice consult was R2821 (SD = 20). This was slightly lower than the scheme tariff of R2872 (SD = 19). The study found that most telephonic consults were for Acute bronchitis, unspecified; Acute upper respiratory; Emergency use of U07.1 (Confirmed diagnosis); Emergency use of U07.2 (Suspected Diagnosis); Follow-up examination; Special screening. Conclusion: The study found evidence of patients utilising telephonic consultations for general medical practitioner services. The effect of COVID-19 in this respect was seen in the three main primary diagnoses that were associated with the consult, Acute upper respiratory, Emergency use of U07.1 (confirmed diagnosis) and Emergency use of U07.2 (suspected diagnosis). Even though the average telephonic consult was claimed at just under R3003, few general medical practitioners claimed between R4004 and R5005 which were higher than the industry average. There is a need to develop telephone consult guidelines at industry level, these should also address reimbursement rate differentials.

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Preference for sublingual immunotherapy with tablets in a Spanish population with allergic rhinitis

Bøgelund¹,

Rosado

Ruiz³

et al. 2022

Clinical & Translational All

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Background This study investigated patients' preference for allergy immunotherapy (AIT) administered as either sublingual immunotherapy‐tablets versus monthly or weekly subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) from a Spanish patient perspective. Methods A discrete choice experiment (DCE) consisting of two blocks with eight choice sets in each was constructed to elicit the preferences for AIT. Three attributes were included in the DCE for the mode of administration, including the frequency of administration, the risk of systemic reactions and the co‐payment. Adults and caregivers of children with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis (AR) were included if they were not currently receiving or had not previously received AIT. Results In total, 587 adults and 613 caregivers started the survey. Of those, 579 adults and 611 caregivers completed the survey and were included in the study. Both adults and caregivers had a significant preference for tablets compared with both monthly and weekly injections ( p ≤ 0.0001). Furthermore, the respondents showed a significant preference for reducing the risk of systemic reactions. Subgroup analyses showed that caregivers of polyallergic children and female caregivers were significantly less price sensitive when choosing their preferred treatment. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that both adults with AR and caregivers of children with AR prefer daily SLIT‐tablets to SCIT with either a weekly or monthly dose schedule.

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The value of telephone consultations during COVID-19 pandemic. An observational study

Cited by 13 publications

References 25 publications

Use of Telepharmacy To Support Patients Using Oral Antineoplastic Agents: A Pilot Study

Use of Telepharmacy To Support Patients Using Oral Antineoplastic Agents: A Pilot Study

Telephone Consultations by Medical Scheme Patients Consulting General Medical Practitioners, South Africa

Preference for sublingual immunotherapy with tablets in a Spanish population with allergic rhinitis

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