Telemedicine Foot and Ankle Visits in the COVID-19 Era.

COVID-19 practice management telemedicine

Journal

Foot & ankle orthopaedics
ISSN: 2473-0114
Titre abrégé: Foot Ankle Orthop
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101752333

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Jan 2021
Historique:
entrez: 31 1 2022
pubmed: 1 2 2022
medline: 1 2 2022
Statut: epublish

Résumé

The COVID-19 pandemic created a difficult environment to provide musculoskeletal care to patients with foot and ankle pathology given the limitations placed on in-office visits. Telemedicine offered a unique avenue to reach these patients; however, the efficacy of telemedicine visits in patients with foot and ankle pathology is not well studied. We propose a telemedicine protocol that has allowed us to effectively see and treat patients with foot and ankle pathology. A 12-step standardized telemedicine protocol was created within the Foot and Ankle division that was used for seeing patients through telemedicine. Also included in this is previsit preparation and follow-up recommendations. Press Ganey surveys were retrospectively reviewed to understand patient experience with telemedicine. 85.2% of patients surveyed responded with scores indicating excellent care. When comparing patients who were seen in-office and through telemedicine, 89.2% and 83.4% responded with scores indicating excellent care, respectively ( Telemedicine offers an effective and convenient way to provide excellent musculoskeletal care to patients affected with foot and ankle pathology. This is the first study that evaluated a comprehensive protocol for telemedicine encounters and can be used to implement telemedicine by others using this approach. Level V, expert opinion.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic created a difficult environment to provide musculoskeletal care to patients with foot and ankle pathology given the limitations placed on in-office visits. Telemedicine offered a unique avenue to reach these patients; however, the efficacy of telemedicine visits in patients with foot and ankle pathology is not well studied. We propose a telemedicine protocol that has allowed us to effectively see and treat patients with foot and ankle pathology.
METHODS METHODS
A 12-step standardized telemedicine protocol was created within the Foot and Ankle division that was used for seeing patients through telemedicine. Also included in this is previsit preparation and follow-up recommendations. Press Ganey surveys were retrospectively reviewed to understand patient experience with telemedicine.
RESULTS RESULTS
85.2% of patients surveyed responded with scores indicating excellent care. When comparing patients who were seen in-office and through telemedicine, 89.2% and 83.4% responded with scores indicating excellent care, respectively (
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
Telemedicine offers an effective and convenient way to provide excellent musculoskeletal care to patients affected with foot and ankle pathology. This is the first study that evaluated a comprehensive protocol for telemedicine encounters and can be used to implement telemedicine by others using this approach.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE METHODS
Level V, expert opinion.

Identifiants

pubmed: 35097434
doi: 10.1177/2473011421994068
pii: 10.1177_2473011421994068
pmc: PMC8702918
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

2473011421994068

Informations de copyright

© The Author(s) 2021.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. ICMJE forms for all authors are available online.

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Auteurs

Sameh A Labib (SA)

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Rahul Goel (R)

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Wesley Manz (W)

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Jason Bariteau (J)

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Classifications MeSH