Telephone clinics: What are our patientssaying?

ABSTRACT

Background/AimsTelemedicine has not previously been a regular part of routinerheumatology services.Our department adopted telephone clinicsduring the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed patient satisfaction byconducting a feedback survey. Our aim was to obtain a patientperspective on remote consultations and on preferred future follow upoptions including video or face-to-face consultations.MethodsThe cohort included 160 rheumatology patients who had a telephoneconsultation between May and mid-June 2020. All patients consentedto receive a further phone call by a different member of the team.Patients had to answer a questionnaire about recent consultation andto rate this on a scale of 1-5. Other questions included whether all theirqueries were answered;clear action plan made;perceived benefits ordisadvantages of telephone consultation;and views about futurefollow up and any additional comments.Results71.9% of 160 patients were females while 28.1 % males. Mean age58.6 yrs. More than half of the patients (60.6%) had a diagnosis ofinflammatory arthritis, followed by connective tissue disease (19.3%), other diagnosis (8.1% ) & vasculitis (5.6%). 94.4 % of the patients inthis study were return appointments-the remainder new. Feedbackresults revealed 92.5% patients were satisfied with their consultationwith mean score of 4.3/5 (5=best, 1= worst). More than 80% agreedthat all their queries were answered and a clear action plan wasformed during consultation. However , 71.2% would want a face toface consultation if given choice while 54 % happy to have furtherfollow up over the phone. 65% of patients preferred not to have videoconsultation. Subgroup analysis showed that majority of patients whowould accept video consultation were aged between 30-39. Mostcommon benefits described were noted to be convenience;reducedtime of work;travel time and safety during pandemic, whilst difficulty indescribing symptoms;hearing problems;and severity of disease weredisadvantages raised, but numbers were small in our cohort.ConclusionTelephone clinics were the mainstay during the COVID-19 pandemic.Thelarge majority of the rheumatology patients in our cohort were highlysatisfied with this form of consultation. However, interestingly themajority (71% ) would still prefer face-to-face consultation as follow up inthe future. Regular follow up in carefully selected patient groups cansuccessfully be performed by telephone clinics with good patientsatisfaction. This would help increase capacity within the clinic setting.