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- Title
An e-Health Approach to Managing Vascular Surgical Patients.
- Authors
Linda J. Hands; Malcolm Clarke; Wendy Mahaffey; Heather Francis; Russell W. Jones
- Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate an e-health approach to managing patients presentingwith vascular-type symptoms. A pilot study of a prospective cohort of patients referredfrom a single general practitioner practice of 5700 patients using electronic referral, assessmentby a practice nurse, and teleconferencing facilities as an adjunct to normal referraland management practice was designed and conducted. Thirty-eight patients aged 30–93 yearsold (median 72 years) were enrolled in the study between March 2001 and July 2004. Twelvepatients had leg ulceration and 12 complained of leg pain. The remainder had a range ofsymptoms potentially vascular in nature. All but 1 patient had an initial teleconsultation. Thisinitial teleconsultation lasted a median of 11 minutes (interquartile range 9 minutes (min) 59seconds (sec)–12 min 43 sec). For 10 patients this was their only contact with the hospital. Onepatient had teleconsultation follow-up only, 26 patients attended the hospital for vascular laboratorystudies or angiography, and 8 of these went on to have radiological and/or surgicalintervention. Three patients attended the outpatient department for follow up; all other follow-ups were managed via the teleclinic. Overall, 57 standard outpatient attendances in thesepatients were replaced by teleconsultations. Common vascular-type symptoms can be satisfactorilyevaluated across a telelink with the aid of a practice nurse and baseline patient datatransmitted electronically. Decisions can be made regarding the need for further investigationand attendance in outpatient clinic can be largely eliminated.
- Subjects
PUBLIC health; VASCULAR surgery; PATIENTS; TELECONFERENCING
- Publication
Telemedicine & e-Health, 2006, Vol 12, Issue 6, p672
- ISSN
1530-5627
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1089/tmj.2006.12.672