The Focused Neurosurgical Examination During Telehealth Visits: Guidelines During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

Patient satisfaction and cost savings analysis of the telemedicine program within a neuro-oncology department

Purpose

Unique challenges exist in the utilization of telemedicine for neurological and surgical specialties. We examined the differences in patient satisfaction for telemedicine versus in-person visits within a Neuro-Oncology Program to assess whether there was a difference between surgical and medical specialties. We also examined the potential cost savings benefits of utilizing telemedicine.

Methods

1189 Press Ganey surveys in the Department of Neuro-Oncology (982 in-person and 207 telemedicine) by surgical and medical neuro-oncology patients between 04/01/2020 and 06/30/2021 were reviewed. Survey results were divided into 4 categories (Access, Provider, Technology (telemedicine only), and Overall Satisfaction). Results were analyzed for the impact of telemedicine versus in-person visits, and gender, age, insurance, and specialty. Cost savings were calculated based on potential travel distance and lost productivity.

Results

Survey results from telemedicine visits demonstrated that patients with private insurance returned higher scores in the Provider (p = 0.0089), Technology (p = 0.00187), and Overall (p = 0.00382) categories. Surgical patients returned higher scores for Access (p = 0.0015), Technology (p = 0.0002), and Overall (p = 0.0019). When comparing telemedicine to in-person scores, in-person scored higher in Provider (p = 0.0092) for all patients, while in-person scored higher in Access (p = 0.0252) amongst surgical patients. Cost analysis revealed that telemedicine allowed patients to save an average of 4.1 to 5.6 h per visit time and a potential cost savings of up to $223.3 ± 171.4.

Conclusion

Telemedicine yields equivalent patient satisfaction when employed in surgical as compared to medical Neuro-Oncology patients with the potential to lessen the financial and time burden on neuro-oncology patients.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11060-022-04173-7

[Mobile applications (apps) for diagnosis and treatment control in pediatric and adolescent medicine]

Die Digitalisierung hält in der Medizin in vielfältigster Form Einzug. Ob patientenzentriert, vernetzend, zur Unterstützung medizinischen Fachpersonals oder in der (klinischen) Forschung: Digitale Technologien sind aus dem medizinischen Alltag spätestens seit der durch das SARS-CoV-2 Virus ausgelösten Pandemie nicht mehr wegzudenken. Hierbei zählen u. a. mobile Smartphone-Anwendungen zu den häufigsten Entwicklungen. Doch die Vielzahl der erhältlichen Produkte und der Zeitmangel in der medizinischen Praxis machen eine zuverlässige Einschätzung der Qualität, Sicherheit und Funktionalität oft schwer. Der vorliegende Übersichtsbeitrag fasst aktuelle Entwicklungen „mobiler“ Technologien aus dem Bereich der Kinder- und Jugendmedizin zusammen und veranschaulicht erhältliche Anwendungen anhand konkreter Beispiele. Ziel ist es, die Leser:innen zu animieren, eigene Erfahrungen zu machen und ihren Blick für evtl. Risiken zu schärfen.