This study evaluates the patient experience during virtual otolaryngology clinic visits implemented during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Patient satisfaction surveys were queried from January 1, 2020, to May 1, 2020, for both telehealth and in-person visits. A descriptive analysis of the question responses was performed. There were 195 virtual and 4013 in-person visits with surveys completed in this time period. Ratings related to provider-patient communication were poor for virtual visits. Telehealth has become the new norm for most health care providers in the United States. This study demonstrates some of the initial shortcomings of telehealth in an otolaryngology practice and identifies challenges with interpersonal communication that may need to be addressed as telehealth becomes increasingly prevalent.

From the existing body of data, one can not conclude that endoscopic methods are superior or inferior to open methods, but there is growing evidence that this is an efficacious technique. Future studies should have emphasis on detailed, prospective reporting.

Objective: To compare the patient experience of a virtual otolaryngology clinic visit to an in-person visit, especially with its significantly increased implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Patient satisfaction (PS) metrics from the Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey were queried from March 1, 2020 to May 1, 2020 for telehealth visits and January 1, 2020 to March 1, 2020 for in-person visits. Overlapping and comparable questions were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test for independence, and Student’s t-test. Results: There were 1284 partial or complete PS surveys from in-person visits and 221 partial or complete virtual PS surveys. There were statistically significantly worse virtual visit evaluations of provider listening, conveyance of information, likelihood to recommend, and overall provider ratings compared to in-person visits. Conclusion: Telehealth has become the new norm for most healthcare providers in the United States. This study demonstrates some of the initial shortcomings of telehealth in an otolaryngology practice and identifies challenges with interpersonal communication that may need to be addressed as telehealth becomes increasingly prevalent. Level of Evidence: Three.

A linear relationship exists between patient age and submandibular gland ptosis, as measured by the distance of the gland from the inferior border of the mandible. To our knowledge, this is the first quantification of the rate and extent of submandibular gland ptosis. A novel grading system for submandibular gland ptosis has been proposed.

It was with great interest that we read the article entitled "Otolaryngology Residency Programs' Rising Social Media Presence During the COVID-19 Pandemic" by Goshtasbi et al. published in The Laryngoscope. 1 Our team has found that in the month following the authors' data collection, 13 additional otolaryngology residency programs have created Instagram profiles and 11 have created Twitter profiles. With nearly 80% of programs on Instagram, we hope to provide additional recommendations that facilitate social media-based residency recruitment.One of the most pronounced effects that the pandemic has had on residency recruitment is the inability of applicants to visit programs for sub-internships and interviews, limiting interactions with residents and faculty. Resident and faculty spotlights make for a creative way for house staff to introduce themselves both professionally and personally. These Instagram posts may include photographs and captions that highlight personal information (e.g., hobbies/ interests) and professional endeavors (e.g., training background, research interests). Such posts also provide insight into the program's culture, a highly-valued characteristic among applicants, which was previously dependent on in-person interactions. 2 While prospective applicants are increasingly following and engaging with residency programs via social media, these platforms generally highlight users' personal lives. Amidst this blending of personal and professional worlds, students may be hesitant to follow residency programs on social media as it may bring their personal profiles to programs' attention. One method to circumvent this is for programs to develop and consistently use one hashtag unique to their institution (e.g., #ProgramName_Oto). This would allow applicants to anonymously follow the hashtag to stay current with program-specific news and announcements.In addition, we would like to emphasize the benefits of incorporating standardized hashtags for match-related content like #OTOMatch2021 or #VirtualOTOMatch as previously described by Mecham et al. 3 Our team found that as of October 30, 2020, only 1.1% of all otolaryngology residency programs' Instagram posts included either of these hashtags. These standardized hashtags may be used advantageously to centralize match-related information into a single feed. This would in turn obviate the need for applicants to follow every otolaryngology residency program's Instagram account in order to stay up to date with match-related content.Though residency recruitment following COVID-19 remains unclear, the recent surge of residency program social media accounts, especially on Instagram, has created a useful framework for online recruitment means.