Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Telemedicine Visits in a Pediatric Gastroenterology Service in the Context of COVID-19
Background: During the first months of COVID-19, the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition service of the Hospital Sant Joan de Deu in Barcelona, a leading pediatric center in Spain, introduced a new model of non-face-to-face care. Objective: To evaluate the impact of telephone consultations co...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Fundació Sant Joan de Déu |
| Repositorio: | r-FSJD. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica de la Fundació Sant Joan de Déu |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:fsjd.fundanetsuite.com:p23964 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://fsjd.fundanetsuite.com/Publicaciones/ProdCientif/PublicacionFrw.aspx?id=23964 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | gastroenterology pediatrics effectiveness non-face-to-face care health economics telemedicine COVID |
| Sumario: | Background: During the first months of COVID-19, the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition service of the Hospital Sant Joan de Deu in Barcelona, a leading pediatric center in Spain, introduced a new model of non-face-to-face care. Objective: To evaluate the impact of telephone consultations compared to those conducted face-to-face on healthcare utilization. Methodology: Two main indicators of effectiveness are used: the degree of resolution (percentage of first telemedicine visits that did not generate any new visits in the following 4 and 12 months) and the average number of subsequent visits. A distinction was made between visits for general pathologies (less complex) and those for pathologies treated in monographic consultations (chronic or complex pathologies). Effectiveness at 4 and 12 months was also compared. Results: After 4 months from the first visit, the degree of resolution is lower in the first telemedicine visits than in face-to-face visits for both general pathologies and those of monographic agendas for chronic and complex pathologies. After twelve months, the first general telemedicine visits are less resolute than face-to-face visits, while the resolution rate is the same for chronic and complex pathology visits. Each telemedicine visit generates on average more visits than face-to-face visits. In the short term, 133.4% more in the case of general visits and 51.4% more in the case of chronic and complex visits. In the long term, general telemedicine visits generate 57.31% more visits, while no statistically significant difference is observed between chronic and complex face-to-face and telemedicine visits. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the resolution capacity of the non-face-to-face model in pediatric care in the pandemic context is generally lower and generates more successive visits than the face-to-face model. This lower performance of the telemedicine model should be counterbalanced with its advantages. |
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