Telehealth during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Rapid expansion of telehealth outpatient use during a pandemic is possible if the programme is previously established

Abstract

Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted the health-care system both in Australia and internationally, and has rapidly transformed the delivery of health care in hospitals and the community. Implementation of social isolation and distancing measures to stop the spread of the disease and to reduce potential harm to patients has necessitated the use of alternate models of health-care delivery. Changes that would normally take months or years have occurred within days to weeks. Methods We conducted analysis of outpatient clinic data during the period of the pandemic and compared this to previous telehealth use. We also present the results of clinician and patient telehealth experience surveys. Results We describe a 2255% increase in the use of telehealth at a tertiary hospital within a period of six weeks, and a significant simultaneous reduction in the outpatient clinic failure-to-attend rate. The vast majority of patients and clinicians agreed that the standard of care provided by telehealth was the same as that provided by on-site appointments. Discussion Telehealth that previously had only limited utilisation has now become a main method for the delivery of outpatient care. Clinicians and patients agreed that consultations provided by telehealth were of the same standard as those provided on site. Health care in the post-pandemic period should embed the use of telehealth for outpatient care and consider the range of other clinical contexts where this can be utilised.

A Review of Patient Satisfaction and Experience with Telemedicine: A Virtual Solution During and Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The mean daily number of telehealth appointments rose from 8.30 in February to 195.5 in April in a tertiary hospital in Australia. 46 A comparison of more than 8,000 e-visits and office visits found virtual encounters cheaper and popular with no compromise on quality. 1 Consistent with previous studies, [47][48][49][50][51][52] we observed overall high patient satisfaction with virtual encounters across various disease types such as epilepsy, dermatology, diabetes, cancer, IBD, and multiple sclerosis.…”

Urgent and non-emergent telehealth care for seniors: Findings from a multi-site impact study

“…These findings are particularly relevant given that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the deployment of telehealth across the country. [14][15][16] In addition, we also conducted secondary descriptive analyses and found differences based on the modality in which telehealth was deployed. One health system that utilized multiple different modalities found that for conditions such as eye infections, skin conditions, and allergies, telephone was equally as effective at achieving resolution as video.…”

Pancreatic cancer in the Australian population: identifying opportunities for intervention

“…The recent COVID-19 pandemic has laid testament to the feasibility as well as the rapid and successful uptake of telemedicine. 77 The need for an increased usage of eHealth care and telemedicine is warranted to provide multidisciplinary team access as well as follow-up care to patients not only from rural areas, but to those who are unable to visit hospitals thereby reducing unnecessary travel and discomfort. A suggestion was made to increase the number of trained pancreatic cancer specialists to work at centres in urban and regional Australia earmarked to provide comprehensive oncology care.…”

“…The authors have discussed this complex issue in further detail in a recent manuscript 76 highlighting the need for multiple actions ranging from the administrative level to tackle problems associated with access to medical care and increase in resource allocation, to revisiting the model of centralization, as we understand it, to equip centres in metropolitan as well as regional areas to comprehensively manage pancreatic cancer by boosting surgical and medical oncology services as well as palliative care. The recent COVID‐19 pandemic has laid testament to the feasibility as well as the rapid and successful uptake of telemedicine 77 . The need for an increased usage of eHealth care and telemedicine is warranted to provide multidisciplinary team access as well as follow‐up care to patients not only from rural areas, but to those who are unable to visit hospitals thereby reducing unnecessary travel and discomfort.…”