Video, Telephone or Face-to-face Surgical Consultations: a Survey of Patients' and Surgeons' Views

August 27, 2026 updated by: University of Aberdeen
This study will send out questionnaires to surgical outpatients and surgeons to gather their views on the appropriate type of surgical outpatient consultation in different clinical scenarios, in order to establish a guideline for surgical outpatient planning.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

As above - this study will send out questionnaires to surgical outpatients and surgeons to gather their views on the appropriate type of surgical outpatient consultation in different clinical scenarios, in order to establish a guideline for surgical outpatient planning.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

220

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
      • Aberdeen, United Kingdom, AB25 2ZN
        • Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

General surgical outpatients General surgeons

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

PATIENTS

Adults attending general surgical outpatients in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary during the study period presenting with:

  • lumps and bumps
  • hernias
  • biliary problems
  • jaundice
  • abdominal pain/mass/weight loss
  • gastro-oesophageal reflux
  • dysphagia
  • change in bowel habit
  • anorectal problems
  • thyroid nodules
  • parathyroid disease
  • adrenal masses

SURGEONS

Consultant General Surgeons in NHS Grampian / Tayside and Highlands

Exclusion Criteria:

PATIENTS

  • lacking capacity
  • without language skills to answer questionnaires or ability to understand questionnaires
  • children < 16yrs (No upper age limit)
  • patients presenting as emergencies
  • patients unwilling to complete questionnaires.

SURGEONS

- trainee surgeons.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Patients
Attending surgical outpatients
Other: questionnaire
Survey of views on outpatient consultation format
Surgeons
Running surgical outpatients
Other: questionnaire
Survey of views on outpatient consultation format

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
appropriate type of surgical outcome
Time Frame: June 2021
What type of surgical outpatient consultation is appropriate for different clinical scenarios i.e. new patient, review patient, post-operative results, breaking bad news, cancer follow-up? This will be assessed by means of a Survey Monkey questionnaire sent out to surgeons in NHS Grampian / Highlands and Tayside and a different Survey Monkey questionnaire sent to patients attending surgical outpatients in NHS Grampian.
June 2021

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Are there any new surgical patients that can be seen or assessed by video or telephone consultation? Do remote consultations improve efficiency?
Time Frame: June 2021

Analysis of the results of patient and surgeons' questionnaires will be undertaken to establish whether there are any types of new surgical patients that need not be seen face to face prior to the day of operation.

Analysis of results from patient and surgeons' surveys will be undertaken to establish which type of surgical consultation (video, telephone or remote) is most appropriate in different clinical circumstances and this will be fed back to surgical outpatient department to assess impact on outpatient administration.
June 2021

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Aberdeen

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 20, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 25, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

October 25, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 18, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 19, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

February 21, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 31, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 287686

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Subscribe