Video consultations during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic are associated with high satisfaction for both doctors and patients. Issue 5 (3rd May 2021) - Zorron Cheng Tao Pu, Leonardo
Abstract: Background and Aim: Telehealth has become the standard of care during the COVID‐19 outbreak. This study aimed to assess doctor and patient satisfaction of endoscopy‐related telehealth clinics with video consultations. Methods: A prospective observational study of patients consecutively booked to attend two endoscopy‐related telehealth clinics at an ambulatory tertiary care setting was conducted from July to October 2020. Data collected from our previously published study using phone consultations (data collected in April–May 2020) were used as a control arm. The primary outcome (satisfaction) was assessed through the six‐question score (6Q_score) as per previous research. Secondary outcomes included failure‐to‐attend (FTA) rate and perceived necessity of physical examination/in‐person follow‐up appointment. Results: There were 962 endoscopy clinic appointments between July and October, of which 157 were conducted through video. Data on 127 doctor questionnaires and 94 patient questionnaires were analyzed. The median age (years) of patients reviewed via video [57, interquartile range (IQR) 48–66] was lower than those reviewed via phone (65, IQR 55–74, P < 0.01). Patient average 6Q_score was higher with video compared to phone (85.1% vs 78.4%, P = 0.01), as was doctors' 6Q_score (97.5% vs 91.9%, P = 0.02). FTA rates remained similar between the two assessments (6.4% in April/May and 4.4% between July/October, P = 0.12). The requirement for in‐person follow‐up/physical examination was identified in two video consultations (1.6%). Conclusion: Video consultations during the COVID‐19 outbreak demonstrated higher patient and doctor satisfaction compared to phone consultations. There was no significant difference in FTA rates and need for in‐person follow‐up consultations/physical examination between the telehealth two modalities. Abstract : The COVID‐19 pandemic has drastically changed the manner we deliver outpatient consultations with most hospitals shifting to telehealth as the preferred method. However, little is known about patient and doctor satisfaction with telehealth, especially when comparing its different modalities. Our study has demonstrated superior satisfaction with video consults compared to phone consults for telehealth endoscopy‐related clinics during the COVID‐19 pandemic.