Leveraging Collaboration in Pediatric Multidisciplinary Colorectal Care Using a Telehealth Platform.

Abstract

Pediatric colorectal problems often require complex multidisciplinary care (MDC), which has been affected by the SARS-CoV-2-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We describe our utilization and implementation of telehealth (TH) for pediatric colorectal surgery MDC visits and collate patient satisfaction using TH compared to in-person (IP) visits. Implementation of a single-institution MDC TH platform to perform patient visits on February 1, 2020 was studied. Following 6months of implementation, TH visits' characteristics were compared with IP visits in the 3months before implementation by patient volume, length of clinic visits, and patient satisfaction survey results. Before implementation, 152 (100%) of clinic visits were IP. During the implementation, 87 (37.7%) were TH visits. Seventy-four (49%) were MDC visits, 17 (23%) of these using the TH platform. Each TH visit's median length was 25minutes (IQR 15-30), while the median length of IP visits was 45minutes (IQR 30-45). Pre-implementation satisfaction scores were 88.6% positive, while satisfaction scores after implementation were 96.8% positive. None of the patients who utilized the TH platform had an unplanned hospital admission within 24hours of being seen. Our experience demonstrates that the TH platform can provide an efficient avenue for established patients and families to receive highly complex multidisciplinary follow-up care. High levels of patient satisfaction indicated that TH should become part of the routine care plan for patients who require long-term or consistent follow-up.