Macdonald Katie, Pearson Hugh, Frew Georgina H, Rust Philippa
Hooper Hand Unit, St. John's Hospital, Livingston, UK.
Department of Anatomy, University of Edinburgh, Old Medical School, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2025 Mar;50(3):357-361. doi: 10.1177/17531934241270347. Epub 2024 Aug 22.
We undertook a retrospective cohort study of a remote carpal tunnel syndrome assessment pathway created in response to limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Between July 2020 and September 2021, 702 patients referred from primary care (general practice) were assessed in a nurse-led telephone clinic using the carpal tunnel questionnaire of Kamath and Stothard (2003). Depending on their questionnaire score, patients were referred either for nerve conduction studies or a consultant hand surgeon review for diagnosis and treatment planning. Questionnaire scores of 3 and above accurately predicted a likely diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome in 83% of patients, and a diagnosis was unlikely in 90% of those with a score below 3. The pathway resulted in an estimated cost savings of £24,436 (€28,862, US$30,945) in comparison with the pre-pandemic service. However, some limitations in the pathway may have impacted effective patient management and we suggest possible improvements. III.
我们针对因新冠疫情造成的限制而创建的远程腕管综合征评估路径开展了一项回顾性队列研究。在2020年7月至2021年9月期间，对702名从基层医疗（全科医疗）转诊而来的患者，在由护士主导的电话诊所中使用卡马斯和斯托瑟德（2003年）的腕管问卷进行了评估。根据问卷得分，患者被转诊进行神经传导研究或由手外科顾问进行诊断和治疗规划评估。问卷得分3分及以上准确预测了83%的患者可能患有腕管综合征，而得分低于3分的患者中，90%不太可能被诊断为此病。与疫情前的服务相比，该路径估计节省了24436英镑（28862欧元，30945美元）。然而，该路径的一些局限性可能影响了对患者的有效管理，我们提出了可能的改进建议。三、
