Oculoplastic patients need to be vetted for suitability prior to using telemedicine

Patients with ectropion, entropion, and dermatochalasis are better suited for video consultation, regardless of age, compared to patients with “watery eye,” lid lesions, and conjunctival lesions, according to a new study.

In this study, 37.8% of new referrals and 60.9% of returning patients were vetted as suitable candidates for video consultation. Approximately 83% of those invited to the video consultation patriated, with 71.7% of new patients and 75% of returning patients completing the consultation. Approximately 15% of new patients and 15.8% of returning patients attempted a video consultation but failed and 13.4% and 9.2%, respectively, did not attend. More than half (50.3%) of all calls had problems, such as issues with patients connecting to the consultation, video quality, and audio quality, but 82.6% were completed.

In 81.3% of new cases and 91.1% of return cases, video consultation was successful in preventing in-person consultations.

For new patients, ectropion, entropion, and dermatochalasis were found to be well suited for video consultation, whereas patients with “watery eyes” were not. For returning patients, postoperative follow-up was well suited, whereas conjunctival lesions were not.

Reference
Jamison A, Diaper C, Drummond S, et al. Telemedicine in oculoplastics: The real-life application of video consultation clinics. Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2020; DOI: 10.1097/IOP.0000000000001852. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33237666.