Telemedicine in vascular surgery during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic: A multisite healthcare system experience

Erben, Young; Franco-Mesa, Camila; Hamid, Osman S.; Lin, Michelle; Stone, William D.; Meltzer, Andrew J.; Hattery, Wendy; Palaj, Arta; Wilshusen, Laura L.; Vista, Tafi L; Kalra, Manju; Farres, Houssam; Bower, Thomas C.; Martino, Randall R. De; Huang, Josephine F.; Meschia, James F.; TerKonda, Sarvam P.

doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2020.12.012

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In general, patient and clinician satisfaction with telemedicine is high [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. While convenience factors, including travel-related time and cost savings, contribute to patient satisfaction [ 19 ], patients have also rated highly the quality of communication and patient-centeredness experienced in telemedicine visits [ 6 , 20 ].…”

Section: Personalized Medicine: Benefits Offered By Telemedicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Delivering Personalized Care at a Distance: How Telemedicine Can Foster Getting to Know the Patient as a Person

Record

Ziegelstein

Christmas

et al. 2021

JPM

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The promise of precision medicine is based on the use of new technologies to better characterize patients by defining individuals in the areas of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other aspects of biologic variability. Wise application of modern technology can similarly transform health visits with patients, allowing for better characterization of the patient’s individual life circumstances than possible in a traditional office visit. The use of, and experience with, telemedicine have increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and clinicians report high satisfaction with telemedicine, and the quality of communication and patient-centeredness experienced in this setting are both rated highly. In this article, we explore the benefits offered by telemedicine in facilitating personalized care with particular focus on telemedicine delivered by video platforms. We propose strategies and skills specific to the effective implementation of personalized telemedicine, drawing on literature in patient-centered communication and home visits. While traditional in-person office visits continue to offer important opportunities such as thorough physical examination and the potential for enhanced non-verbal communication, telemedicine offers many important advantages that can facilitate the process of getting to know the patient as a person.

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Section: Personalized Medicine: Benefits Offered By Telemedicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Delivering Personalized Care at a Distance: How Telemedicine Can Foster Getting to Know the Patient as a Person

Record

Ziegelstein

Christmas

et al. 2021

JPM

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“…Erben and colleagues 15 aimed to evaluate telemedicine visits' satisfaction rate for patients who received vascular surgery during the COVID-19 outbreak. Most of the questionnaire respondents (80.6%) rated that their healthcare experience with telemedicine encounters was "very good."…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Erben and colleagues 15 aimed to evaluate telemedicine visits’ satisfaction rate for patients who received vascular surgery during the COVID-19 outbreak. Most of the questionnaire respondents (80.6%) rated that their healthcare experience with telemedicine encounters was “very good.” The authors noted that the high quality of patients’ satisfaction and healthcare experience remained unchanged compared to prepandemic face-to-face traditional care delivery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telemedicine for management of patients with lung cancer during COVID-19 in an Italian cancer institute: SmartDoc Project

Pardolesi

Gherzi

Pastorino

2021

Tumori

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Background: Telemedicine, and particularly video-consulting, has rapidly accelerated since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak. The role of e-healthcare for the management of patients with lung diseases is evolving. We report the results of the initial experience of the SmartDoc Project, a telemedicine program activated in a cancer center (Istituto Nazionale Tumori) at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic onset in Italy. Method: The SmartDoc project was established to guarantee continuity of healthcare services for patients with lung cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The project was promoted within the National Health System to create a regulatory framework to authorize and reimburse telemedicine in its care delivery for all patients. At the end of the virtual meeting, patients were asked to answer an online survey. Results: From June 19 to December 1, 2020, 83 patients participated in the SmartDoc project and received a teleconsultation. The majority of patients were older than 65 years. Among the 83 televisits, 14 (16.9%) were new visits, 2 (2.4%) second opinions, 4 (4.8%) 30-day postsurgery controls, and 63 (75.9%) long-term follow-up visits. A “complete satisfaction” score (5 out of 5 points) was reported in 70.59% of all the respondents; most patients (76.5%) preferred video-consulting and defined it as better than or comparable to an in-person visit. Conclusion: The favorable initial results of this study suggest that telemedicine should continue beyond the pandemic crisis and should be embedded in a more efficient and accessible healthcare system.

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“…The trainee surgical volume has also decreased by 86.4% for the vascular surgery fellow. In contrast, a multisite health care system study from Mayo clinic in USA reported that 12.6% of the total vascular surgery encounters were completed via telemedicine between March 2020 and August 2020 [ 12 ]. Approximately 81% of these patients rated their overall healthcare experiences ‘very good’ and this rating was comparable to face-to-face encounters (79%) [ 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Teleconsultation still has many challenges including reimbursement, accessibility, monitoring of quality, patient confidentiality, local and national legal oversight and liability, Internet speed, patients’ educational and know-how computer literacy level [ 12 , 16 ]. Although there are multiple reports on the utilization of telemedicine services in different specialties worldwide, there is a paucity of studies from the Middle East [ 17 ] and the unique social and legal parameters which could affect clinical best practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of vascular surgery teleconsultation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from the outpatient vascular clinics in a tertiary care hospital in Qatar

et al. 2021

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a surge in the use of virtual communication tools for delivering clinical services for many non-urgent medical needs allowing telehealth or telemedicine, to become an almost inevitable part of the patient care. However, most of patients with vascular disease may require face-to-face interaction and are at risk of worse outcomes if not managed in timely manner. Objective We aimed to describe the utilization of telemedicine services in the outpatient vascular surgery clinics in a tertiary hospital. Methods A retrospective analysis of data on all vascular outpatient encounters during 2019 and 2020 was conducted and compared to reflect the pattern of practice prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results The study showed that 61% of the total patient encounters in 2020 were reported through teleconsultation. Females were the majority of patients who sought the virtual vascular care. Consultations for the new cases decreased from 29% to 26% whereas, the follow-up cases increased from 71% to 74% in 2020 (p = 0.001). The number of procedures performed in the vascular outpatient clinics decreased by 46% in 2020 when compared to 2019. This decrease in procedures was more evident in the duration from February 2020 to April 2020 in which the procedures decreased by 97%. The proportion of procedures represented 22.6% of the total encounters in 2019 and 10.5% of the encounters during 2020, (p = 0.001). Conclusions Teleconsultation, along with supporting practice guidelines, can be used to maximize the efficiency of care in vascular surgery patients during the pandemic and beyond. Adoption of the ‘hybrid care’ which combines both virtual and in-person services as an ongoing practice requires evidence obtained through audits and studies on patients and healthcare providers levels. It is essential to establish a clear practice that ensures patient’s needs.

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Telemedicine in vascular surgery during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic: A multisite healthcare system experience

Cited by 17 publications

References 18 publications

Delivering Personalized Care at a Distance: How Telemedicine Can Foster Getting to Know the Patient as a Person

Delivering Personalized Care at a Distance: How Telemedicine Can Foster Getting to Know the Patient as a Person

Telemedicine for management of patients with lung cancer during COVID-19 in an Italian cancer institute: SmartDoc Project

Implementation of vascular surgery teleconsultation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from the outpatient vascular clinics in a tertiary care hospital in Qatar

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