Characterization of the Teleneurology Patients at the Hospital Las Higueras de Talcahuano-Chile.

Background: Chile has a shortage of medical experts, including neurologists. The remote neurology program at Las Higueras Hospital in Talcahuano (HHT) was implemented in 2015 to decrease the number of patients waiting for their first appointment. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed a cohort of 2,904 ambulatory patients evaluated in the teleneurology program at the HHT between 2015 and 2019 who were referred from 16 primary and 3 tertiary healthcare centers. Results: Out of the 2,904 patients included in the study, 1,020 patients (35%) were male, and 1,884 (65%) were female. In total, 1,346 (46.0%) patients were under 60 years old (408 male and 938 female), and 1,558 (54%) were over 60 years old (612 male and 946 female). The patients were referred to a neurologist in the teleneurology program from different primary healthcare centers (93.5%) and tertiary healthcare centers (6.5%). The most common diseases diagnosed through teleneurology were, in decreasing order, headache (29.4%), Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (15.9%), and epilepsy (11.4%). From July 2018, we analyzed the patients' destination after the first teleneurology consultation. In the cohort of 634 patients who had their first consultation via the teleneurology program, 547 (86.3%) were instructed to continue follow-up via telemedicine. Conclusions: Data from this study show, for the first time in Chile, the significant contribution of the teleneurology program at the HHT to the diagnosis of a broad range of diseases in a substantial number of patients referred from primary and tertiary healthcare centers.

Contribution of a synchronic teleneurology program to decrease the patient number waiting for a first consultation and their waiting time in Chile.

Backround There is a shortage of medical specialists in Chile, including neurologists; currently, there are 56,614 patients waiting for a first adult Neurology appointment in the country. The Teleneurology Program at the Hospital Las Higueras de Talcahuano (HHT) was implemented in 2015 to help reduce both the number of patients waiting for a first consultation and their waiting times. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed a cohort of 8269 patients referred to the HHT Neurology clinic between 2013 and 2018, from primary, secondary, and tertiary health centers. Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the factors influencing each outcome (number of patients waiting for a consultation and waiting time), such as age, gender, referral health establishment and the type of consultation (whether in situ at the HHT or by synchronic telepresence through the Teleneurology Program). RESULTS: Out of the 8269 patients included in the study, 1743 consulted the neurologist through the Teleneurology Program, while 6526 received a consultation in situ at the HHT. Since its implementation (2015) until the end of 2018, the Teleneurology program contributed to decrease the number of patients waiting for their first appointment from 3084 to 298. Waiting time for the first consultation was 60% shorter for patients enrolled in the Teleneurology program than those with consultation in situ at HHT (6.23 ± 6.82 and 10.47 ± 8.70 months, respectively). Similar differences were observed when sorting patient data according to the referral health center. Cox regression analysis showed that patients waiting for a traditional in situ first adult Neurology consultation at the HHT had a higher risk (OR = 6.74) of waiting 90% longer than patients enrolled in the Teleneurology Program, without significant differences due to gender or age. CONCLUSIONS: Data from this study show a significant contribution of the Teleneurology Program at the HHT to decrease the number of patients waiting for a first consultation with a neurologist, as well as shorter waiting times, when derived from primary and secondary health centers.

Validation of a patient satisfaction survey of the Teleneurology program in Chile.

OBJECTIVE: Telemedicine arises as an attractive intervention for reducing the waiting time for appointments with medical specialists in Chile. Successful implementation of this technology requires safeguarding the patient/clinician trust relationship; however, no studies have been conducted to evaluate quality perception of a telemedicine program in Chile. To assess patient satisfaction with the Teleneurology program at the Hospital Higueras Talcahuano (HHT), addressing patient/clinician trust relationship. RESULTS: A perception survey was constructed with 23 questions, distributed into 5 key areas (items) of user satisfaction. Its face validity was performed by five neurology specialists from the Teleneurology unit of HHT. The survey was applied to 167 patients of the HHT, recruited between 2018 and 2019, for conducting a pilot cross-sectional descriptive study to assess internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) and reliability (factorial analysis of main components). The survey showed an internal consistency of 0.88. Removing any of the items maintained its reliability in values over 0.8. All items showed point biserial correlations greater than 0.30. Overall, the survey constructed and evaluated in this study showed high internal consistency and reliability values, which will allow its application in further studies of quality assessment of the Teleneurology unit of HHT.