Evidence of a Rapid Shift in Outpatient Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Telemedicine
Evidence of a Rapid Shift in Outpatient Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Telemedicine
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DOI：
10.1089/tmj.2020.0150
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发表时间：
2020-05-19
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Najm, Imad
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Punia, Vineet;Nasr, Gaelle;Najm, Imad
简介：在目前的大流行期间，预防SARS-CoV-2病毒暴露的措施严重影响了向慢性神经系统疾病患者提供门诊临床护理。远程医疗已成为克服这些障碍的一个明显选择。然而，在这些快速变化的时期，其将门诊服务维持在大流行前水平的潜力尚未得到检验。因此，我们分析了我们在三级护理癫痫center.Methods的经验：我们将研究期间从2020年3月1日至2020年4月15日分为基线，过渡（远程医疗）和当前阶段。我们将门诊就诊分为门诊、虚拟（使用Cleveland Clinic Express Care Online平台）和电话（包括商业视频会议平台）。近四分之一的患者在过渡期间错过了门诊。虚拟访视占基线期间已完成访视的19.7%，在本期间增加至66.8%。基线期无电话访视，但占当前阶段已完成访视的26.1%。结论：我们提供的证据表明，远程医疗的强大和快速的可扩展性可以帮助保持在大流行期间门诊护理的无缝过渡。
Introduction: During the current pandemic, measures for preventing SARS-CoV-2 virus exposure has severely impacted the delivery of outpatient clinical care to patients with a chronic neurological condition. Telemedicine has emerged as an obvious choice to counter these impediments. However, its potential for maintaining outpatient care at pre-pandemic levels during these rapidly changing times is untested. Therefore, we analyzed our experience in a tertiary care epilepsy center.Methods: We divided the study period from March 1, 2020 to April 15, 2020 into a baseline, transition (to telemedicine), and current phase. We divided outpatient encounters into clinic, virtual (using Cleveland Clinic Express Care Online platform), and telephone (including commercial video conferencing platforms).Results: Completed outpatient visits during baseline and current period were 595 and 590, respectively. Nearly 1 out of 4 patients missed outpatient visits during the transition period. The virtual visits accounted for 19.7% of completed visits during baseline and increased to 66.8% during the current period. There were no telephone visits during the baseline phase but accounted for 26.1% of completed visits during the current phase. Less than 1 percent of completed visits in the current phase were in the clinic.Conclusion: We provide evidence that telemedicine's robust and rapid scalability can help maintain a seamless transition of outpatient care during the pandemic.