Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
OTJR (Thorofare N J). 2023 Jul;43(3):487-494. doi: 10.1177/15394492231155090. Epub 2023 Mar 6.
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid adoption of telehealth for outpatient pediatric occupational therapy practice. The dose of therapy may have varied across diagnostic and geographical groups despite efforts to ensure access for all patients. The objective of the study was to describe the visit length of outpatient pediatric occupational therapy practice for three diagnostic groups at one institution both during and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrospective review of electronic health records for two time periods using both practitioner-entered and telecommunications data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed model. Prior to the pandemic, average treatment length did not vary by primary diagnosis. During the pandemic, average visit length varied by primary diagnosis, with feeding disorder (FD) visits significantly shorter than cerebral palsy (CP) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) visits. During the pandemic, visit length was associated with rurality for the whole sample and for patients with ASD and CP, but not FD. Patients with FD may have been seen for shorter durations during telehealth visits. The technology gap may affect services for patients living in rural communities.
COVID-19 大流行促使人们迅速采用远程医疗来进行门诊儿科作业疗法实践。尽管努力确保所有患者都能获得治疗，但在诊断和地理群体方面，治疗剂量可能有所不同。本研究的目的是描述在 COVID-19 大流行期间和之前，一家机构的三个诊断组的门诊儿科作业疗法实践的就诊时长。使用从业者输入和远程通信数据，对两个时间段的电子健康记录进行回顾性审查。使用描述性统计和广义线性混合模型进行数据分析。在大流行之前，主要诊断对治疗时间的平均长度没有影响。在大流行期间，就诊时长因主要诊断而异，进食障碍 (FD) 的就诊时间明显短于脑瘫 (CP) 和自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的就诊时间。在大流行期间，就诊时长与整个样本的农村地区以及 ASD 和 CP 患者有关，但与 FD 无关。FD 患者在远程医疗就诊期间可能接受的治疗时间较短。技术差距可能会影响居住在农村社区的患者的服务。
