THE EMERGING ROLE OF TELEMEDICINE IN GASTROENTEROLOGY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A STUDY ON ITS FEASIBILITY AND PATIENTS’ TRUST

ABSTRACT

Background and aim: During the on-going COVID-19 pandemic telemedicine has enabled many patients with chronic diseases worldwide to get access to remote assistance. Telemedicine has emerged as the ideal solution to overcome the restrictions in place on performing regular non-urgent follow-up visits for chronic patients and continuing patients’ assistance. Some positive reports on the use of telemedicine in gastroenterology among healthcare providers and patients have been published, but a patient’s trust perspective about televisits has so far been unavailable. Our study aimed at ascertaining telemedicine feasibility and gastroenterological patients’ trust in televisits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: At our Gastroenterology Unit in Milan (Italy), which is a tertiary referral center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) and Celiac Disease (CeD), telemedicine was used in place of on-site follow-up visits scheduled but not provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. All IBD and CeD outpatients were contacted by phone and televisits were arranged for patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms, with bio-umoral alterations or as needed for those who requested it. The patients’ trust in telemedicine was assessed through an adapted version of the PAtient Trust Assessment Tool (PATAT) questionnaire. The primary endpoint was expressed patient’s trust as assessed through the questionnaire. The secondary endpoint was feasibility and acceptance of televisits. Results: A total 188 out of 218 scheduled (86.2%) televisits were performed and among these a total of 163 (86.7%) questionnaires compiled was accomplished. The primary endpoint of trust in the telemedicine service was achieved in 95.2%, 89.7% and 87.3% of the respondents for the three selected key statements about trust in the telemedicine service, its capability to solve clinical problems and ease to use, respectively.(figure presented) Conclusions: Our results showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic televisits were feasible for most of our patients with chronic gastroenterological diseases, and that most patients accepted and trusted televisits as an alternative to the traditional in-person examination