Patient and clinician satisfaction with video consultations in dentistry - part two: clinician satisfaction

Introduction Video consultations are currently not commonly used in dentistry; therefore, most clinicians lack experience in using this technology and seeing patients in this way. When implementing video clinics, it is important to assess clinician satisfaction as well as patient satisfaction to allow for developments and improvements, and to ensure that the highest levels of care are provided.Aim To assess patient and clinician satisfaction with the Attend Anywhere video consultations used by the orthodontic team at Croydon University Hospital.Method Two separate satisfaction questionnaires were piloted and developed: one for patients and one for clinicians. For all patients scheduled for a video consultation between 15 May 2020 and 15 June 2020 in the orthodontic department, all clinicians were invited to complete a clinician satisfaction questionnaire at the end of the consultation to assess satisfaction with the encounter.Results In total, 114 patients attended video consultations, for which there were 128 clinician completed questionnaires, as some patients were seen by multiple clinicians on multidisciplinary clinics. Over 89% of clinicians strongly agreed or agreed with all of the satisfaction statements, with the highest levels of satisfaction being for ease of use and convenience. Over 95% of clinicians strongly agreed or agreed that they would recommend using video consultations and over 89% preferred using a video consultation, if appropriate, to a face-to-face appointment. Overall, the highest levels of satisfaction were for retainer reviews.Conclusion High levels of clinician satisfaction were found with the telemedicine clinics in orthodontics across a range of different appointment types and encounters. Satisfaction varied according to the type of appointment; therefore, this should be a factor for consideration when planning the most appropriate use of telemedicine clinics going forwards.