Endoscopy-related Phone Consultation During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Austin Health186 enrolled

Overview

The aim of this study is to evaluate patient and consultant experiences with phone consultations for endoscopy-related outpatient appointments during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Telephone consultations as a method for telehealth do not provide visual cues and limit interpretation of visual signs such as visualization of skin lesions. However, the need of such feedback is almost non-existent for endoscopy-related consultations as their purpose is focused. The main foci of endoscopy-related outpatient clinics are two: 1 - inform and consent the patient for an endoscopic procedure that is to be done in the near future; 2 - explain the results of a recent procedure already performed and which has a copy provided to the patient. Therefore, phone consultations might be a good fit for endoscopy-related outpatient clinics. The practicalities and indications for the use of phone consults has been described by van Galen \& Car (2018) and fit the above description. Patients will be invited to participate only after the consultation have been finalised and all questions regarding the endoscopic procedure to be done/that was done have been clarified. Patients and consultants will fill questionnaires to evaluate the phone consultation. The primary outcome will the the comparison of "failed to attend" (FTA) occurrences compared to a similar period of the past year. Secondary outcomes will be patients' and consultants' satisfaction with the phone consultation.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

186

Conditions

Colon Polyp Colon Disease Reflux, Gastroesophageal Varices, Esophageal

Interventions

None - NAOTHER

Observational study

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients booked for an outpatient consultation in the Post-Endoscopy clinic or Advanced Endoscopy clinic * Consultation determined to be held over the phone as per preventive measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak * Age \> 18 years * Ability to give informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * Phone consultation done with a relative as per patient's preference or inability to talk over the phone * Patient that is deemed as confused/not able to understand * Unwilling/unable to participate in the post-consultation survey

Locations (1)

Austin Health

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Failed to attend patients

percentage of patients that did not answer phone calls (at least 3 calls) or with documented FTA for the retrospective group.

Time frame: 2 months

Secondary Outcomes

Patient satisfaction with the phone consult

Assessed through an online/hardcopy questionnaire based on previous studies on telehealth (adapted from Barsom et al. 2020 - MSF and PAT-VC questionnaires). These are mostly Likert-scale response mode statements.

Time frame: 2 months

Consultant satisfaction with the phone consult

Assessed through an online/hardcopy questionnaire based on previous studies on telehealth (adapted from Barsom et al. 2020). These are mostly Likert-scale response mode statements.

Time frame: 2 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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