Virtual voice clinics in the COVID-19 era: have they been helpful?

Watters, Carolina; Miller, Benjamin F.; Kelly, Mark; Burnay, Victoria; Karagama, Yakubu; Chevretton, Elfy B

doi:10.1007/s00405-021-06643-6

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Convenience was most often reported, from the citizens’ perspective, as an advantage of relocating care. This was true for all forms of relocation [ 27 – 30 , 32 – 34 , 38 , 41 , 42 , 45 , 47 , 49 , 52 – 54 , 58 – 60 , 65 – 67 , 69 , 70 , 73 , 78 , 82 , 84 – 86 , 88 , 90 , 93 , 94 ]. Citizens think of relocating as convenient because in most cases it saves travel time [ 26 , 29 , 53 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Citizens’ perspectives on relocating care: a scoping review

Damen,

Van Tuyl,

Korevaar

et al. 2024

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Healthcare systems around the world are facing large challenges. There are increasing demands and costs while at the same time a diminishing health workforce. Without reform, healthcare systems are unsustainable. Relocating care, for example, from hospitals to sites closer to patients’ homes, is expected to make a key contribution to keeping healthcare sustainable. Given the significant impact of this initiative on citizens, we conducted a scoping review to provide insight into the factors that influence citizens’ attitudes towards relocating care. Method A scoping review was conducted. The search was performed in the following databases: Pubmed, Embase, Cinahl, and Scopus. Articles had to include relocating healthcare and citizens’ perspectives on this topic and the articles had to be about a European country with a strong primary care system. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 70 articles remained. Results Factors positively influencing citizens’ attitudes towards relocating care included: convenience, familiarity, accessibility, patients having more control over their disease, and privacy. Factors influencing negative attitudes included: concerns about the quality of care, familiarity, the lack of physical examination, contact with others, convenience, and privacy. Furthermore, in general, most citizens preferred to relocate care in the studies we found, especially from the hospital to care provided at home. Conclusion Several factors influencing the attitude of citizens towards relocating care were found. These factors are very important when determining citizens’ preferences for the location of their healthcare. The majority of studies in this review reported that citizens are in favour of relocating care. In general citizens’ perspectives on relocating care are very often missing in articles. It was significant that very few studies on relocation from the hospital to the general practitioner were identified.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Citizens’ perspectives on relocating care: a scoping review

Damen,

Van Tuyl,

Korevaar

et al. 2024

BMC Health Serv Res

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“…A recent study showed there is limited value in assessing voice disorders over the telephone. 10 Clinicians can easily misjudge the severity of hoarseness during a telephone consultation and offer these patients deferred appointments. Future studies could examine associations between presenting symptoms and late diagnoses in urgent head and neck cancer telephone clinics on a larger scale.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic telephone two-week-wait referrals in head and neck cancer – how safe were they?

et al. 2023

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Objective During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, ENT-UK recommended a move from face-to-face clinics to telephone appointments. This study reviewed the safety of telephone clinics for urgent two-week-wait cancer referrals. Methods Patients consulted in telephone clinics between April and November 2020 were identified from an electronic database. Study patients included those diagnosed with malignant disease at six months. The Head and Neck Cancer Risk Calculator version 2 score, outcome of the initial clinic and final diagnoses were reviewed. Results A total of 1062 patients were triaged in clinic; 9.2 per cent (n = 98) were diagnosed with cancer at 6 months. Of these 98 patients, 69 received an urgent face-to-face appointment, 26 underwent urgent scans and 3 had a delayed telephone review. Twenty patients (20.4 per cent) diagnosed with cancer had a low-risk Head and Neck Cancer Risk Calculator score. Conclusion The late diagnosis rate of 0.28 per cent suggests a small proportion of cancer could have been missed. Telephone clinics, whilst a pragmatic means to maintain patient flow during the pandemic, could result in late diagnoses.

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“…Previous studies have demonstrated that virtual methods of consultation are valuable and can meaningfully progress patient care [ 16 ]. Furthermore, studies investigating patient experience with teleconsultation have shown a generally high degree of patient satisfaction [ 12 , 16 ]. In our cohort, we found a positive patient engagement with this hitherto unconventional method of consultation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote triaging of urgent suspected head and neck cancer referrals: our experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Kaddour

Jama

Stagnell

et al. 2021

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol

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Purpose In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, otolaryngology departments across the United Kingdom have adopted non-face-to-face clinics with consultations being carried out remotely, via telephone or video calls. By reducing footfall on hospital sites, the aim of this strategy was to limit direct contact and curb the spread of infection. This report outlines our experience of conducting a telephone triage clinic in the assessment of urgent suspected head and neck cancer referrals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods New patients who were referred on the urgent suspected head and neck cancer pathway were prospectively identified between 1 May 2020 and 31 August 2020. Patients were triaged remotely using telephone consultations. Risk stratification was performed using the ‘Head and Neck Cancer Risk Calculator’ (HaNC-RC v.2). Results Four-hundred and twelve patients were triaged remotely during the 4-month study period. Of these, 248 patients were deemed ‘low risk’ (60.2%), 78 were classed as ‘moderate risk’ (18.9%) and 86 were considered ‘high risk’ (20.9%) according to the HaNC-RC v.2 risk score. Twenty-four patients who were assessed during the study period were diagnosed with head and neck cancer (5.82%). Conclusion The use of teleconsultation, supported by a validated, symptom-based risk calculator, has the potential to provide a viable and effective adjunct in the assessment and management of new suspected head and neck cancer patients and should be considered as part of the inherent re-shaping of clinical service delivery following the ongoing pandemic.

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Virtual voice clinics in the COVID-19 era: have they been helpful?

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Citizens’ perspectives on relocating care: a scoping review

Citizens’ perspectives on relocating care: a scoping review

Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic telephone two-week-wait referrals in head and neck cancer – how safe were they?

Remote triaging of urgent suspected head and neck cancer referrals: our experience during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

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