Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
J Telemed Telecare. 2023 Jul;29(6):484-491. doi: 10.1177/1357633X21990997. Epub 2021 Feb 1.
The emergence of COVID-19 and its ensuing restrictions on in-person healthcare has resulted in a sudden shift towards the utilization of telemedicine. The purpose of this study is to assess patient satisfaction and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for individuals who underwent follow-up for shoulder surgery using telemedicine compared to those who received traditional in-person clinic follow-up.
Patients who underwent either rotator cuff repair or total shoulder arthroplasty during a designated pre-COVID-19 (traditional clinic follow-up) or peri-COVID-19 (telemedicine follow-up) span of time were identified. PROMs including the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons standardized assessment form, the three-level version of the EQ-5D form, the 12-Item Short Form survey, and a modified version of a published telemedicine survey were administered to participants six months post-operatively via phone call.
Sixty patients agreed to participate. There was no significant difference between the pre-COVID-19 and peri-COVID-19 groups in patient satisfaction with their follow-up visit ( = 0.289), nor was there a significant difference in PROMs between the two groups. In total, 83.33% of the telemedicine group and 70.37% of the in-person clinic group preferred traditional in-person follow-up over telemedicine.
In a cohort of patients who underwent telemedicine follow-up for shoulder surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no difference in patient satisfaction and PROMs compared to traditional in-person clinic follow-up. This study indicates that while the majority of participants preferred face-to-face visits, patients were relatively satisfied with their care and had similar functional outcome scores in both groups, despite the large disruption in healthcare logistics caused by COVID-19.
COVID-19 的出现及其对面对面医疗服务的限制，导致人们突然转向使用远程医疗。本研究旨在评估接受肩部手术随访的患者对远程医疗的满意度和患者报告的结果测量（PROMs），并与接受传统门诊随访的患者进行比较。
确定在指定的 COVID-19 前（传统门诊随访）或 COVID-19 期间（远程医疗随访）接受肩袖修复或全肩关节置换术的患者。在术后 6 个月，通过电话向参与者发放美国肩肘外科医生标准化评估表、三级 EQ-5D 表单、12 项简短表格调查以及已发表的远程医疗调查的改良版等 PROMs。
共有 60 名患者同意参与。COVID-19 前组和 COVID-19 期间组在对随访就诊的满意度方面无显著差异（ = 0.289），两组的 PROMs 也无显著差异。在总共 83.33%的远程医疗组和 70.37%的门诊组中，患者更倾向于传统的面对面随访而非远程医疗。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，对接受远程医疗随访的肩部手术患者进行的研究表明，与传统的门诊随访相比，患者的满意度和 PROMs 没有差异。尽管 COVID-19 导致医疗服务的物流发生了巨大中断，但这表明尽管大多数参与者更喜欢面对面就诊，但两组患者的护理满意度相对较高，且功能结局评分相似。
