Surgical Telemedicine in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

Surgical Telemedicine in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

The current COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays in initial or follow-up encounters between surgical patients and physicians. While this delay allows for resource allocation to those most severely affected by the pandemic, surgeons are faced with potential important delays in diagnosis and the expanding backlog of elective cases and initial evaluations.

This project will assess surgeon and patient telemedicine perspectives. Pre-pandemic views on telemedicine among a cohort of surgeons will be obtained and compared to views at 3 months from the peak of the pandemic. Patients will be surveyed following telemedicine appointments with an anonymous questionnaire to learn about patient receptiveness to telemedicine. Barriers to implementation will be addressed throughout the duration of the study.

Inclusion Criteria

1. Surgical faculty at participating institutions will receive surveys regarding telemedicine early in the start of the study to assess baseline perceptions. These same group of surgeons will receive subsequent surveys 3 months after the peak of the pandemic to evaluate telemedicine perceptions following a rapid implementation and adoption of telemedicine.
2. Surgical patients evaluated from the start of the study through a 6-month period will be included in the study. They will have the option after each telemedicine encounter to complete an anonymous survey regarding perceptions to this technology.

Exclusion Criteria

1. No exclusions for surgical faculty are identified. Accrual of data from this group will be limited only by response rates to administered surveys.
2. Exclusions for surgical patients will include the inability to access the technology required for a telemedicine consultation (e.g.: absence of a camera enabled smartphone, absence of a required internet or cellular connection to perform a telemedicine encounter). The investigators will keep a list of reasons for the inability to perform a telemedicine encounter to identify the barriers to implementation among patients.