Abstract

Objective: To study the feasibility and scope of telemedicine in otolaryngology in the COVID 19 pandemic and global lockdown.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed in the otolaryngology department during COVID 19 pandemic at AIIMS Bathinda. Telemedicine consultation was set up to replace face to face consultation. Both audio and video consultation facility option was provided to patients. The patient satisfaction survey was done to assess the satisfaction level of telemedicine during COVID 19 pandemic in otolaryngology patients. The patient had to register for audio or video consultation, after which the patient would receive a call from the concerned department on the next day on the allotted time. The time slot for each patient was 15 minutes. Consultations were performed by the senior otolaryngologist. The informed consent was taken from the patient. The study was approved by institutional ethical committee.

Results: The total of 95 patients enrolled for teleconsultation in the otolaryngology department during the period from April 2020 to August 2020. The most common age group range was 21-40 years. The male to female ratio was 1.2:1. Out of 95 patients, 58 patients had registered for audio teleconsultation and 37 patients for video teleconsultation. The most common subspeciality patients were throat and head and neck. The overall satisfaction rate was 89%.

Conclusion: Telemedicine is useful for follow up patient and we can rely on telemedicine in these patients. It helped patients to reach health care specialist while reducing the exposure to both.

Keywords: COVID 19; Otolaryngology; Telemedicine

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Citation

Citation: Vaibhav Saini., et al. “Telemedicine in Otolaryngology During COVID-19 Pandemic: Our Experience".Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 3.2 (2020): 42-46.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Vaibhav Saini., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.