Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar;40(3):929-937.
doi: 10.1002/nau.24651. Epub 2021 Mar 6.

Efficiency and satisfaction with telephone consultation of follow-up patients in neuro-urology: Experience of the COVID-19 pandemic

Camille Chesnel  1 , Claire Hentzen  1 , Frédérique Le Breton  1 , Nicolas Turmel  1 , Eliane Tan  1 , Rebecca Haddad  1 , Gérard Amarenco  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Efficiency and satisfaction with telephone consultation of follow-up patients in neuro-urology: Experience of the COVID-19 pandemic

Camille Chesnel et al. Neurourol Urodyn. 2021 Mar.
Free PMC article

Abstract

Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic led to limit patients' visits to the neuro-urology department. Telemedicine was seen as a pragmatic solution to provide follow-up care. This study aimed to assess the efficiency and satisfaction of a telephone consultation in neuro-urology.

Methods: During the pandemic, the scheduled medical visits were converted into telephone consultation. For each teleconsultation, the physician assessed the efficiency and the patient-rated global satisfaction of the teleconsultation. The physician and the patient assessed whether this teleconsultation replaced a physical visit.

Results: About 358 neurologic patients were included in the study. The mean efficiency of the telephone consultation was 9.3/10 (±1.5). The mean global satisfaction was 9.0/10 (±1.3). The majority of the patients (52.4%) would prefer a physical consultation. 90.2% might convert some clinic visits to teleconsultations in the future. No agreement was found between the patient and the physician when they were asked if the teleconsultation replaced the physical consultation initially scheduled (weight kappa = 0.02; 95% confidence interval = [-0.06 to 0.11]). Cognitive impairment, difficulty to obtain relevant information, and lack of physical examination were unfavorable to the efficiency of the teleconsultation. Cognitive impairment, embarrassing nature of the teleconsultation, and preference for a physical consultation were unfavorable to satisfaction of the patient.

Conclusion: Telemedicine in neuro-urology was associated with a high satisfaction of the patients and was described as efficient by the physicians. Despite this, the majority of the patients reported a preference for physical consultation. The COVID-19 pandemic might be an opportunity to refine our practices in neuro-urology and to develop telemedicine.

Keywords: COVID-19; efficacy; neuro-urology; patient satisfaction; telemedicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Phé V, Karsenty G, Robert G, Gamé X, Cornu J‐N. Widespread postponement of functional urology cases during the COVID‐19 pandemic: rationale, potential pitfalls, and future consequences. Eur Urol. 2020;78:4‐5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kim T, Zuckerman JE. Realizing the potential of telemedicine in global health. J Glob Health. 2019;9(2):020307. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kane‐Gill SL, Rincon F. Expansion of telemedicine services: telepharmacy, telestroke, teledialysis, tele‐emergency medicine. Crit Care Clin. 2019;35(3):519‐533. - PubMed
    1. Hatcher‐Martin JM, Adams JL, Anderson ER, et al. Telemedicine in neurology: telemedicine work group of the American Academy of Neurology update. Neurology. 2020;94(1):30‐38. - PubMed
    1. Modi PK, Portney D, Hollenbeck BK, Ellimoottil C. Engaging telehealth to drive value‐based urology. Curr Opin Urol. 2018;28(4):342‐347. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources