Comparison and Opinion on the Safety of Teleconsultation Versus Traditional Anaesthetic Consultation in a Day Hospital

Comparison and Opinion on the Safety of Teleconsultation

A pre-anaesthetic consultation is compulsory. It must be carried out at least 8 days before a scheduled medical and/or surgical operation. Its main objectives are to take the patient's history, carry out a clinical examination, select the complementary examinations that should be carried out, and inform the patient of the procedure and the type of anaesthetic proposed. In a world moving towards virtualisation, a number of medical specialities have opted for remote consultations, either by telephone or video-conferencing. Teleconsultation seems to offer greater satisfaction, not only for patients, but also for surgeons and anaesthetists. It is also associated with a reduction in the distance travelled by patients, costs and financial expenditure, with no increase in the rate of cancellation of surgery. For the first time at the Brussels University Hospital (Erasme), the anaesthesia and intensive care team will gradually introduce the system of pre-anaesthetic teleconsultation by telephone from October 2023.

The aim of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness of preanaesthetic teleconsultation at the Erasme HUB. In fact, it would be better to have results based on local expertise in order to give an answer on the effectiveness, safety and security of this innovative method, which will be officially implemented in October 2023.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pre-anaesthetic Consultation
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: preanaesthetic classical physical consultation; Other: preanaesthetic teleconsultation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Belgium
  • Bruxelles, Belgium, 1070
    • Boudart Céline

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria for prospective group (AFTER):

• Patients scheduled for any surgery at one day hospital and who have signed the consent form.
• Pre-anaesthetic consultation by telephone.

Inclusion Criteria for retrospective group (BEFORE):

• patients having undergone any surgery at one day hospital during the period between 01/01/2023 and 31/06/2023.
• Pre-anaesthetic consultation carried out face-to-face.
• Patients eligible for teleconsultation

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participation in another clinical study within the previous month.
• Patient unable to complete the questionnaire.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Screening
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Before preanaesthetic teleconsultation implementation	Other: preanaesthetic classical physical consultation; Pre-anaesthetic classical consultation before teleconsultation implementation
Experimental: After preanaesthetic teleconsultation implementation	Other: preanaesthetic teleconsultation; Pre-anaesthetic consultation by telephone for eligible patients according to the criteria set

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Score of Patient endangerment (0-4)	Patient endangerment : 0 = Nothing to report; 1 = Lack of information but no danger to the patient; 2 =Lack of information and reduced safety but intervention maintained; 3 = Too great a risk to the patient.	at the 1 day of surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Satisfaction scores reported on LIKERT scale (1-5)	How do you feel about the anaesthetic teleconsultation? 1 = Very satisfied; 2 = Satisfied; 3 = Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied; 4 = Not very satisfied; 5 = Not at all satisfied.	Baseline (before the procedure)
Pre-operative anxiety scorereported on LIKERT scale (1-5)	How would you rate your level of anxiety? 1 = Not at all anxious; 2 = Slightly anxious; 3 = Moderately anxious; 4 = Somewhat anxious; 5 = Very anxious	Baseline (before the procedure)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Erasme University Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: boudart céline, HUB

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 15, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 8, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): April 8, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 26, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 8, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 19, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 18, 2024
• Last Verified: April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: SRB2023303

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