Efficiency and Satisfaction With Telephone Consultation in Neuro-urology: Experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated drastic measures in order to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The stay home policies for the whole population and especially for frail patients and the express instruction to deprogram non-urgent consultations and interventions limited the clinic visits in neuro-urology department. In this context, telemedicine was seen as a pragmatic solution to provide follow-up care for our neurologic patients. Due to the delay in deploying telemedicine and the cognitive impairment of some of our patients, telephone consultation has been prioritized.

The COVID-19 pandemic might be an opportunity to review and refine our practices in neuro-urology. For the follow-up of selected patients, telephone consultations may be efficient and cost effective.

The aim of the study is to assess the efficiency and the satisfaction with telephone consultation for the physician and the patient.

The study was conducted in a neuro-urology department of a university hospital in France.

During the stay-home policies for the COVID-19 pandemic, all the scheduled medical visits were converted into telephone consultation. New patients weren't included.

For each teleconsultation, the physician assess the duration of the consultation, the number of tries to join the patient, the efficiency of the consultation, the difficulty to obtain relevant information due to the phone way of the consultation and the lack of physical examination.

On the next days, the patient was contacted by phone and was asked a) if he was satisfied of being phoned by the physician, b) if the teleconsultation was embarrassing, c) if he had enough time of teleconsultation d) if he got all the answers to his queries, e) if he would preferred to had a physical consultation f) to assessed the global satisfaction of the teleconsultation and g) if in the future, they may considered converting some clinic visits to teleconsultations.

The physician and the patient assessed whether this teleconsultation has replaced a physical visit.

The usual transport mode of the patient for a clinic visit and the need to take a day off for worker patients were recorded.

The primary aim was to assess the efficiency and the satisfaction of the telephone consultation. The primary outcome was the evaluation of the efficiency of the telephone consultation by the physician on a numerical 10-points scale. The secondary outcome was the evaluation of the satisfaction of the telephone consultation by the patient on a numerical 10-points scale.

Four hundred teleconsultations are scheduled for five physicians.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Satisfaction, Patient; Telemedicine; Efficacy, Self
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Satisfaction evaluation

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 450

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Paris, France, 75020
    • Department of Neuro- Urology, Hôpital Tenon

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: N/A
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with telephone consultation in a tertiary center in neuro-urology

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 18 years old
• Telephone consultation

Exclusion Criteria:

• New patient in the department

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Cohort
• Time Perspectives: Prospective

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
patients enrolled; Patients with telephone consultation on neurourology department, age > 18	Other: Satisfaction evaluation; Assessement of satisfaction of the telephone consultation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Efficiency of the telephone consultation	The primary outcome was the evaluation of the efficiency of the telephone consultation by the physician on the numeric scale with 0 the worth efficiency and 10 the best efficiency.	1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Satisfaction of the telephone consultation	The secondary outcome was the evaluation of the satisfaction of the telephone consultation by the patient onon the numeric scale with 0 the worth efficiency and 10 the best efficiency.	1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Pierre and Marie Curie University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 16, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 30, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): June 15, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 8, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 8, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): April 10, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 15, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 14, 2021
• Last Verified: June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: satisfaction; telemedicine; efficacy; neurourology
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; COVID-19
• Other Study ID Numbers: GREEN GRC01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No