The Impact of Telehealth on Wait Time for ENT Specialty Care
The Impact of Telehealth on Wait Time for ENT Specialty Care
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DOI：
10.1089/tmj.2009.0142
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发表时间：
2010-06-01
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Hood, Linda J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hofstetter, Philip J.;Kokesh, John;Hood, Linda J.
在过去的6年里，阿拉斯加农村地区的听力学通过将存储和转发远程医疗整合到日常实践中而发生了巨大的变化。自2002年以来，位于阿拉斯加州诺姆农村的诺顿声音健康公司的听力科一直在使用存储转发远程医疗。2002至2007年间，安克雷奇阿拉斯加土著医疗中心耳鼻喉科完成了3,000多次直接听力学会诊。这项研究是对诺顿声音健康公司提供者在远程医疗开始之前(1992-2001年)和之后(2002-2007年)所有新转诊的耳鼻喉科专科诊所等待时间的16年回顾分析。在听力学和耳鼻喉科使用远程医疗之前，47%的新患者转诊需要等待5个月或更长时间才能获得面对面的耳鼻喉科预约；这一比例在头3年使用远程医疗的所有患者中下降到8%，然后在未来3年使用远程医疗的所有患者中不到3%。在使用远程医疗的前3年中，平均等待时间为2.9个月，与之前未使用远程医疗的平均等待时间4.2个月相比，下降了31%。然后，在接下来的3年里，远程医疗的等待时间降至平均2.1个月，与使用远程医疗的头3年相比，进一步下降了28%。
Audiology in rural Alaska has changed dramatically in the past 6 years by integrating store and forward telemedicine into routine practice. The Audiology Department at the Norton Sound Health Corporation in rural Nome Alaska has used store-and-forward telemedicine since 2002. Between 2002 and 2007, over 3,000 direct audiology consultations with the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Department at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage were completed. This study is a 16-year retrospective analysis of ENT specialty clinic wait times on all new patient referrals made by the Norton Sound Health Corporation providers before (1992-2001) and after the initiation of telemedicine (2002-2007). Prior to use of telemedicine by audiology and ENT, 47% of new patient referrals would wait 5 months or longer to obtain an in-person ENT appointment; this dropped to 8% of all patients in the first 3 years with telemedicine and then less than 3% of all patients in next 3 years using telemedicine. The average wait time during the first 3 years using telemedicine was 2.9 months, a 31% drop compared with the average wait time of 4.2 months for the preceding years without telemedicine. The wait time then dropped to an average of 2.1 months during the next 3 years of telemedicine, a further drop of 28% compared with the first 3 years of telemedicine usage.