Yahya Muhammad Syafwan, Tang Lilian, Healy Donagh
Vascular Surgery, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, UK
Vascular Surgery, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, UK.
BMJ Open Qual. 2024 Dec 16;13(4):e002783. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2024-002783.
The pandemic limited our capacity for face-to-face (F2F) outpatient clinics and therefore we set up virtual phone consultation clinics (VPC). Our study evaluated patients' and clinicians' perspectives on our VPC and identified areas for improvement.
We designed a questionnaire for patients and a questionnaire for clinicians. These included questions on satisfaction with VPC, practical aspects of VPC and suggestions for improvement. Between December 2021 and February 2022, one hundred patients and 11 clinicians completed these questionnaires.
The average satisfaction score for the patients' last VPC attendance was 4.42/5 (SD 0.90). The main benefits of VPC from the perspective of patients were: reduced risk of infection, the convenience of not needing to travel and increased efficiency. A large proportion of the patients were unaware that an F2F clinic attendance could be requested instead of a VPC. 3 patients suggested that we could do video calls. 52 patients indicated that they would prefer an F2F attendance for their next review.The average satisfaction score for our clinicians was 4.19 (SD 0.98). Our clinicians believed that the advantages of VPC were increased efficiency, reduced risk of infection and lower cost. Clinicians felt that patients who needed to be told about normal scan results and patients who could not travel were most suitable for VPC. The most notable disadvantage of VPC was the inability to perform a physical examination and our clinicians felt that this could delay treatment. Some clinicians felt that giving patients a written summary of the VPC would be beneficial.
Our patients and staff were satisfied with our VPC programme and understand its advantages. Our study provided justification for the continued use of VPC.
疫情限制了我们开展面对面门诊的能力，因此我们设立了虚拟电话咨询诊所（VPC）。我们的研究评估了患者和临床医生对我们VPC的看法，并确定了需要改进的方面。
我们设计了一份患者问卷和一份临床医生问卷。这些问卷包括对VPC满意度、VPC实际情况以及改进建议等问题。在2021年12月至2022年2月期间，100名患者和11名临床医生完成了这些问卷。
患者上一次参加VPC的平均满意度得分为4.42/5（标准差0.90）。从患者角度来看，VPC的主要优点是：感染风险降低、无需出行的便利性以及效率提高。很大一部分患者不知道可以要求进行面对面门诊而非VPC。3名患者建议我们可以进行视频通话。52名患者表示他们下次复诊更希望进行面对面门诊。我们临床医生的平均满意度得分为4.19（标准差0.98）。我们的临床医生认为VPC的优点是效率提高、感染风险降低和成本降低。临床医生认为需要告知其正常扫描结果的患者以及无法出行的患者最适合VPC。VPC最明显的缺点是无法进行体格检查，我们的临床医生认为这可能会延误治疗。一些临床医生认为给患者提供VPC的书面总结会有帮助。
我们的患者和工作人员对我们的VPC项目感到满意，并了解其优点。我们的研究为继续使用VPC提供了依据。
