ABSTRACT
Oculoplastic surgery is uniquely well-positioned within the field of eye care to employ telehealth due to the largely external nature of the conditions treated. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, telehealth was seldom used in this subspecialty. The year 2020 saw a rapid increase in the use of telehealth by oculoplastic surgeons, particularly synchronous home-based video telehealth. The technology has been most popular for post-operative visits, though surgeons have advocated for its use for various other visit types as well. Oculoplastic surgery societies have advised in favor of using telehealth, but consensus within the field for how it is best used is lacking. This chapter introduces best practices for telehealth visit types and examination techniques for oculoplastic surgeons and suggests directions for future study.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study aims to report how the practice of plastic surgeons and their attitude was during the first measure period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: A survey study was held among members of the Indonesian Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons during week 5 after the first report of COVID-19. A 10 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 1 essay covered key questions on the area of surgery and operating room, clinics, internal meeting, and consultation. The only open-ended question relates to the last MCQ addresses a future "flipped" medical practice. RESULTS: Response rate was 45.6% among 228 members, with 89.4% did no practice or limited their service to emergency and urgent cases only. Only 1.9% kept their official meeting as usual, while the majority modified it. The practice in the operating theatre and clinic were also altered to comply with the measures; with 21.2% from the total respondents only allowed patients with exposure to come for visit after taking 14 days of self-quarantine. Teleconsultation was practiced by 50% of the respondents, while 41.3% agreed and 10.6% disagreed upon the future "flipped" medical practice. CONCLUSION: In general plastic surgeons have made supportive actions during the pandemic. Surgery was performed with all precautions at the utmost as a reflection of high alert of viral infection. Teleconsultation has been embraced via existing social media. Agreement upon the future "flipped" medical practice is reasonable. All in all, the actions were considered as most relevant.