A follow-up study of remote trauma teleconsultations.
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Date
2001-03-26
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Abstract
We conducted a follow up study of patients who had attended a nurse led minor accident and treatment service MATS and who had participated in a teleconsultation Over three and a half years 31 510 patients had attended the MATS unit and 1854 patients 5 9 of these had participated in a teleconsultation Of the 1854 telemedicine patients 1199 had been referred to hospital or clinic and 1153 had actually attended Retrospective examination of the relevant hospital records showed that in 25 cases 2 the original telediagnosis was considered incorrect at face to face review and that treatment was either begun or changed in 264 cases 23 All patients including those discharged home after the teleconsultation were sent a questionnaire about any changes to their injury Of the 655 patients discharged home a questionnaire response was obtained from 598 91 Following discharge 43 of these patients had sought help from another health care provider the majority from their general practitioner Of the 46 patients referred to hospital who did not keep their follow up appointments questionnaire results were obtained from 35 76 Nine of these patients had sought help from another health care provider the majority from their general practitioner but there had been no change in diagnosis or treatment Our findings suggest that teleconsultations are an effective means of delivering minor injuries care