The objective of this study is to evaluate patient perspective on telemedicine used in 3 week post operative visits for knee and hip arthroplasty. It is hypothesized that patient satisfaction with telemedicine follow-up is equal to patient satisfaction with in-office followup. Patient satisfaction will be assessed at the 3-week and 9-week post-operative timepoints.
In 2014 there were 370,770 total hip replacements and 680,150 total knee replacements performed in the United States. As the elderly proportion of the population continues to grow, it is estimated that the number of total hip arthroplasty will grow by 71 percent and total knee arthroplasty will grow by 85 percent by the year 2030 (Sloan, M The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 2018). As these numbers continue to rise, health care delivery must evolve into a more efficient, cost effective system without compromising the quality of the care delivered. Telemedicine involves using electronic communications and software to provide clinical services to patients in place of an in-person visit. Benefits of telemedicine include avoiding unnecessary trips to hospitals, saving time, and reducing the number of working days missed (Asiri, A Acta Inform Med 2018). Used in general surgery followup care, anonymous survey responses demonstrated a high degree of satisfaction with 85% expressing a desire to utilize telemedicine for followup care in the future (Nikolian, V Annals of Surgery 2018). Postoperative telemedicine has been studied in many specialties, but literature exploring its use in orthopedics has been scant.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
98
Patients will undergo a Telemedicine encounter with the physician at the 3-week post-operative timepoint following a total hip or total knee arthroplasty.
Patients will undergo an in-person clinic encounter with the physician at the 3-week post-operative timepoint following a total hip or total knee arthroplasty.
Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas
Greenville, South Carolina, United States
Patient reported satisfaction
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) will be used to assess patient satisfaction of the 3 week encounter both at 3 and 9 weeks post-operatively. The scale of the survey ranges from 8-32, with 32 being the best score and 8 being the worst. The higher a patient scores, the more satisfied the patient is with the care provided.
Time frame: 9 weeks
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