The Use and Acceptance of Telemedicine in Orthopedic Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT

Background:A major byproduct of the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the accelerated adoption of telemedicine within orthopedic practices.Introduction:The purpose of the study is to evaluate satisfaction associated with telemedicine and to determine how telemedicine is used by orthopedic surgeons in response to social distancing efforts necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:We developed a survey to evaluate surgeon's perception of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey consisted of four major sections focusing on (1) surgeon characteristics and current use of telemedicine, (2) telemedicine for new patients, (3) telemedicine for routine follow-up patients, and (4) telemedicine for postoperative patients.Results:We collected 268 survey responses. Overall, 84.8% of surgeons were using telemedicine, but only 20.5% of surgeons were using it before the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall satisfaction with telemedicine was 70.3% ± 20.9%. Of those who use telemedicine, 75% currently use it for new patients, 86.6% currently use it for routine follow-up patients, and 80.8% currently use it for postoperative patients (p = 0.01). Surgeons had higher satisfaction with building rapport and performing physical examination maneuvers for either routine follow-up or postoperative patients than for new patients (p < 0.0001 for both). However, satisfaction with obtaining imaging did not differ among the cohorts (p = 0.36). Surgeons felt they are more likely to continue to use telemedicine after the COVID-19 pandemic for either routine follow-up or postoperative patients than for new patients (p < 0.0001).Discussion:Owing to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine use has increased substantially among orthopedic surgeons in recent months.Conclusions:Our study established that physician implementation of telemedicine has increased significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the majority of surgeons satisfied with its use in their practice, and plan on incorporating telemedicine in their practices beyond the pandemic.