Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Quantity and Characteristics of Ophthalmology Consults.
Telemed J E Health
; 28(10): 1547-1551, 2022 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2062837
ABSTRACT
Purpose:
To assess the COVID-19 exposure risk to consulting ophthalmologists and the pandemic effect on consultations at one of the most impacted hospital systems in New York.Methods:
In a retrospective, cross-sectional study, ophthalmology consult notes and COVID-19 test results were collected from the electronic medical record from February to May in 2019 and 2020.Results:
Of 2,215 total notes analyzed, consults decreased from 1,374 to 841 between years (p = 0.0002). In 2020, 22.5% of all consults were COVID tested and 2.4% were positive within 2 weeks of in-person evaluation. In 2020, 1.8% of consults were electronic. Ventilated patients increased between years (7.5% to 10.8%; p = 0.04).Conclusions:
Although consultations decreased during the Spring 2020 peak, the majority (98.2%) remained as in-person evaluations. While few patients tested COVID positive, this likely reflects the limited availability of testing early in the pandemic. Consulting ophthalmologists remained at high risk of COVID-19 exposure during the pandemic peak.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ophthalmology
/
Telemedicine
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Telemed J E Health
Journal subject:
Medical Informatics
/
Health Services
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Tmj.2021.0512
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