The role of a virtual telephone clinic in the follow-up management of lateral skull base tumours

Abstract

ObjectiveThe purpose of this article was to determine the impact of employing a telephone clinic for follow-up of patients with stable lateral skull-base tumours.MethodAn analysis of 1515 patients in the national lateral skull-base service was performed, and 148 patients enrolled in the telephone clinic to date were identified. The length of time that patients waited for results of their follow-up scans and the travel distance saved by patients not having to attend the hospital for their results was determined.ResultsThe mean time from scan to receiving results was 30.5 ± 32 days, 14 days sooner than in the face-to-face group (p = 0.0016). The average round-trip distance travelled by patients to the hospital for results of their scans was 256 ± 131 km.ConclusionThe telephone clinic led to a significant reduction in time until patients received their scan results and helped reduce travel distance and clinic numbers in traditional face-to-face clinics.

Experience with Telemedicine in a Tertiary Academic Otologic Clinic During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Visit Indications Amenable to Virtual Televideo Visits Our data suggest evaluation by virtual visit may be particularly useful for a range of neurotologic conditions, including vestibular schwannomas, meningiomas, and sensorineural hearing loss (Table 2). Vestibular schwannomas and meningiomas may be more conducive to virtual platforms since evaluation and surgical consideration relies mainly on patient report of symptoms, audiometric data, and neuroimaging, and less often on in-person physical examination (15,17,18,25). Though MRI and audiometric testing cannot be obtained without a visit to a center performing specialized testing, these tests are frequently ordered by local physicians and the results are forwarded to tertiary care centers for review.…”

Improving outcomes in necrotising otitis externa, telephone clinics, and topical pimecrolimus for chronic eczematous external otitis

“…Telephone consultations and triage have rapidly increased in the out-patient setting because of the coronavirus pandemic. 10–13 Two further studies in this month's issue report the positive effects of telephone clinics as a method of service delivery. 14,15…”