Vusirikala Anuhya, Ensor David, Asokan Ajay K, Lee Alvin Jx, Ray Ravi, Tsekes Dimitrios, Edwin John
Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Basildon University Hospital, Basildon SS16 5NL, Essex, United Kingdom.
Medical Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
World J Orthop. 2021 Jan 18;12(1):24-34. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v12.i1.24.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in seismic changes in healthcare delivery. As a result of this, hospital footfall required to be reduced due to increased risk of transmission of infection. To ensure patients can safely access healthcare, we introduced orthopaedic clinic telephone consultations in our busy district general hospital.
To investigate patients' and clinicians' perspective of telephone consultations during COVID-19, and whether this method of consultation could be a viable option in the post- pandemic future.
This is a single centre, prospective study conducted in a busy National Health Service district general hospital. In May 2020, 100 non- consecutive adult patients were contacted by independent investigators within 48 h of their orthopaedic clinic telephone consultation to complete a telephone satisfaction questionnaire. The questions assessed satisfaction regarding various aspects of the consultation including overall satisfaction and willingness to use this approach long term. Satisfaction and perspective of 25 clinicians conducting these telephone consultations was also assessed an online survey tool.
93% of patients were overall satisfied with telephone consultations and 79% were willing to continue this method of consultation post- pandemic. Patients found telephone consultations to reduce personal cost and inconvenience associated with attending a hospital appointment. 72% of clinicians reported overall satisfaction with this service and 80% agreed that telephone consultations should be used in the future. The majority found it less laborious in time and administration in comparison to face to face consultations. Patients and clinicians expressed their desire for video consultations as a method of further improving their experience with remote consultations.
Our study has shown that telephone consultations are a safe and rapid method of adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving the aim of reducing hospital footfall. This method of consultation has resulted in immense clinician and patient satisfaction. Our findings suggest that this tool has benefits in post pandemic healthcare delivery. It has also highlighted that telephone consultations can act as a steppingstone to the introduction of the more complex platform of video consulting.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行导致医疗服务发生了巨大变化。因此，由于感染传播风险增加，需要减少医院的门诊量。为确保患者能够安全地获得医疗服务，我们在繁忙的地区综合医院引入了骨科门诊电话咨询服务。
调查患者和临床医生对COVID-19期间电话咨询的看法，以及这种咨询方式在大流行后的未来是否可行。
这是一项在繁忙的国民保健服务地区综合医院进行的单中心前瞻性研究。2020年5月，独立调查人员在100名非连续的成年患者进行骨科门诊电话咨询后的48小时内与其联系，以完成一份电话满意度调查问卷。这些问题评估了对咨询各个方面的满意度，包括总体满意度和长期使用这种方式的意愿。还通过在线调查工具评估了进行这些电话咨询的25名临床医生的满意度和看法。
93%的患者对电话咨询总体满意，79%的患者愿意在大流行后继续采用这种咨询方式。患者发现电话咨询降低了与前往医院就诊相关的个人成本和不便。72%的临床医生对这项服务总体满意，80%的临床医生同意未来应使用电话咨询。与面对面咨询相比，大多数人发现电话咨询在时间和管理方面不那么费力。患者和临床医生表示希望进行视频咨询，作为进一步改善他们远程咨询体验的一种方式。
我们的研究表明，电话咨询是一种安全、快速的方式，可适应COVID-19大流行，实现了减少医院门诊量的目标。这种咨询方式使临床医生和患者都非常满意。我们的研究结果表明，这种工具在大流行后的医疗服务中具有益处。它还突出表明，电话咨询可以作为引入更复杂的视频咨询平台的垫脚石。
