Telemedicinevisits in an established multidisciplinary central nervous system clinic for radiation oncology and neurosurgery (RADIANS) in a community hospital setting.

Abstract

To determine the impact of telemedicine visits, compared to in-person visits, on patient satisfaction in an established community hospital-based multidisciplinary central nervous system (CNS) clinic. Telemedicine options - virtual visits and teleconferencing - wereintroduced in July 2020. Both radiation oncologist and neurosurgeon were simultaneously present for the telemedicine visit. Descriptive patient demographics, survey responses, and travel time and distance calculations were analyzed. Satisfaction score was compared topreviously published data. A total of twenty-five telemedicine visits (n=22 video; n=3 phone) were completed since July 2020.Patient demographicsareas follows: mean age was 59 years (range=22-81), women (9) and men (16),repeat telemedicine visits n=10,malignant CNS disease(17) and benign disease (5).Meanone-waydistance traveled was 165.07 miles (median=114; range=0.8-358).Meanroundtrip travel time wasestimated at5h 5min. Mean telemedicine visit duration was 15.3 mins (range=4-46). Mean patient satisfaction scorefor telemedicine visits was 4.84. Patients who opted for the telemedicine visits found them just as effective as in-person visits, saving time and travel costs as well as ensuring patient safety during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The telemedicine visitplatform facilitates the multidisciplinary clinic model and should be considered for more widespread utilization (Tab. 3, Fig. 1, Ref. 18).