Follow-Up, Safety, and Satisfaction with Tele-bariatric Follow-Up Implemented During the COVID-19 French Lockdown: a 2-Year Follow-Up Study.
Obes Surg
; 33(4): 1083-1091, 2023 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2229265
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic was initially responsible for a global restricted access to healthcare resources including the follow-up of at-risk populations such as bariatric patients. We substituted face-to-face bariatric follow-up outpatient clinics (FTFC) with teleclinics (TC) during the lockdown. MATERIAL ANDMETHODS:
We retrospectively reviewed data collected on all patients scheduled for TC during the French lockdown period (March 15 to May 15, 2020) (N = 87). Our aims were to present the patients' outcomes at one and 2 years post-TC implementation and describe patient/practitioner satisfaction.RESULTS:
Seven (8%) patients required FTFC, and 80 (92%) underwent TC (study population) for preoperative bariatric assessment (N = 3) and postoperative follow-up (N = 77) after 23.6 ± 29 months following surgery. TC was performed with video and audio (N = 46; 57.5%) or audio alone when video was impossible (N = 34; 42.5%). Sixteen (20%) patients presented at least one complication identified at the first TC and were managed accordingly. There were no readmissions at 30/90 days post-TC. At 1-year after the first TC, overall follow-up rate was 94.9% (TC 73% vs FTFC 27%). Patients surveyed on the main advantages of TC over FTFC (N = 46) cited saving time (97.8%) at a mean 3.9 ± 6.4 h saved per TC, work-advantages (94.3%), and comparable relevance of TC (84.8%). At 2 years post-TC implementation, follow-up rate was 93.5% and satisfaction rate was 80%, with 33% of patients preferring to return to FTFC.CONCLUSIONS:
TC is a satisfactory substitute for FTFC, enabling continued bariatric follow-up during and beyond the pandemic setting without compromising patient safety. However, the modest satisfaction outcomes at 2 years highlight a need to discuss follow-up preferences in order to achieve optimal outcomes.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Obesity, Morbid
/
Telemedicine
/
Bariatrics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Obes Surg
Journal subject:
Metabolism
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11695-023-06485-7
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