Teleconsultation in General Surgery during COVID-19 pandemic, satisfaction survey and feasibility for future

The COVID-19 pandemic has made us to respond to the needs of the community. Telemedicine has gained worldwide acceptance. We describe our experience with teleconsultation in surgical patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate patient satisfaction and the feasibility of maintaining it as a future strategy in selected patients.

An observational, retrospective, single-site cohort study was carried out by reviewing electronic medical records and conducting a telephone survey.

During this time, 1706 teleconsultations have been carried out: 59.5% of patients were rescheduled, 26.1% have been solved and of these 57.3% (255 patients) have been discharged; 12.19% were not contacted. The 73.6% considered that teleconsultation was able to fully or partially resolve the reason for their medical appointment; 61.6% were willing to continue with teleconsultation; 15.2% of the patients needed some kind of help or required a second call to speak with a family member, and 37.2% would prefer a face-to-face visit because of difficulties with the teleconsultation. The overall satisfaction was 8.7 out of 10.

Telemedicine has demonstrated to be a useful tool even for surgical patients during COVID-19 pandemic. A high proportion of patients can be managed by telephone call. Patients reported a high degree of satisfaction. Teleconsultation is a feasible strategy not also during the current COVID-19 pandemic but also for future.