Telemedicine trends in orthopaedics and trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic: A bibliometric analysis and review

Arvind Kumar, MS, Siddhartha Sinha, MS, Javed Jameel, MS and Sandeep Kumar, MS *

Department of Orthopaedics, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi, India

Received 22 June 2021; revised 13 August 2021; accepted 3 September 2021; Available online 18 October 2021

Abstract

Objectives: In the wake of recent widespread interest in telemedicine during the COVID-19 era, many orthopaedic surgeons may be unfamiliar with clinical examination skills, patients’ safety, data security, and implementation related concerns in telemedicine. We present a bibliometric analysis and review of the telemedicine-related publications concerning orthopaedics care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such analysis can help orthopaedic surgeons become acquainted with the recent developments in telemedicine and its usage in regular orthopaedics practice.

Methods: We systematically searched the database of Thomson Reuters Web of Science for telemedicinerelated articles in orthopaedics published during the COVID-19 pandemic. The selected articles were analysed for their source journals, corresponding authors, investigating institutions, countries of the corresponding authors, number of citations, study types, levels of evidence, and a qualitative review.

Results: Fifty-nine articles meeting the inclusion criteria were published in 28 journals. Three hundred forty-two authors contributed to these research papers. The United States (US) contributed the most number of articles to the telemedicine-related orthopaedics research during the COVID-19 era. All articles combined had a total of 383 citations and 66.1% were related to the Economic and Decision-making Analyses of telemedicine implementation. By and large, level IV evidence was predominant in our review.

Conclusion: Telemedicine can satisfactorily cover a major proportion of patients’ visits to outpatient departments, thus limiting hospitals’ physical workload. Telemedicine has a potential future role in emergency orthopaedics and inpatient care through virtual aids. The issues related to patient privacy, data security, medicolegal, and reimbursement-related aspects need to be addressed through precise national or regional guidelines. Lastly, the orthopaedic physical examination is a weak link in telemedicine and needs to be strengthened.

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; COVID-19; Orthopaedics; Telemedicine; Trends

Telemedicine in postoperative follow-up of STOMa PAtients: a randomized clinical trial (the STOMPA trial)

M. Augestad1,2,4 , A. M. Sneve3 and R.-O. Lindsetmo3

1Department of Surgery, Sandnessjøen Hospital, Sandnessjøen, and 2Department of Quality and Research and 3Division of Surgery and Women’s Health, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway, and 4Department of Colorectal Surgery, Columbia University Hospital, New York, USA Correspondence to: Dr K. M. Augestad, Department of Quality and Research, University Hospital of North Norway, 9037 Breivika, Tromsø, Norway (e-mail: 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。)

Background: A stoma has severe impact on the patient’s quality of life (QoL). Postoperative home community follow-up by teleconsultation (TC) and stoma nurses may reduce the burden of travel and improve QoL.

Methods: A university hospital and five district medical centres participated. Patients with a stoma were randomized to follow-up by either TC (intervention) or hospital (control). Stoma nurses performed the clinical examination at the TC studio, aided remotely by hospital nurses and surgeons. The primary endpoint was the EQ-5D™ index score; secondary endpoints were the Stoma Quality-of-Life Scale, the OutPatient Experiences Questionnaire, and use of hospital resources.

Results: A total of 110 patients were randomized to hospital (58 patients) or TC (52) follow-up; 64 patients (hospital 38, TC 26) were followed for more than 12 months and 246 consultations (hospital 151, TC 95) were performed. There were no differences in QoL: EQ-5D™ index score (P = 0⋅301) and EQ-5D™ visual analogue scale (VAS) score (P = 0⋅775); Work/Social Function (P = 0⋅822); Sexuality/Body Image (P = 0⋅253) and Stoma Function (P = 0⋅074). Hospital follow-up performed better for organization of care (staff collaboration, P = 0⋅004; met same persons, P = 0⋅003) and communication (surgeon understandable, P < 0⋅001; surgeon caring P = 0⋅003). TC did not increase the number of hospital consultations (P = 0⋅684) and reduced the number of journeys of more than 8 h (P = 0⋅007).

Conclusion: Telemedicine follow-up by stoma nurses did not improve the QoL of patients, but decreased the readmission rate and burden of travel. Registration number NCT01600508 (https://www. clinicaltrials. gov).

Presented to the Annual Meeting of the Norwegian Surgical Association, Oslo, Norway, October 2019

Paper accepted 5 December 2019

Published online 26 February 2020 in Wiley Online Library (www.bjs.co.uk). DOI: 10.1002/bjs.11491

Telemedicine barriers and challenges for persons with disabilities: COVID-19 and beyond

Thiru M. Annaswamy, MD MA a, * , Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD b, Lex Frieden, MA, LLD c

a VA North Texas Health Care System, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

b The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

c University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

abstract

       The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a rapid adoption of telemedicine over traditional in-person visits due to social restrictions. While telemedicine improves access and reduces barriers to healthcare access for many, several barriers and challenges remain for persons with disabilities, and novel challenges have been exposed, many of which may persist long-term.

       The challenges and barriers that need to be systematically addressed include: Infrastructure and access barriers, operational challenges, regulatory barriers, communication barriers and legislative barriers.

       Persons with disabilities are a vulnerable population and little attention has been placed on their healthcare access during the pandemic. Access and communication during a healthcare encounter are important mediators of outcomes for persons with disabilities. Significant, long-term changes in technological, regulatory, and legislative infrastructure and custom solutions to unique patient and health system needs are required to address these barriers going forward in order to improve healthcare access and outcomes for persons with disabilities.

ARTICLE  INFO

Article history:

Received 6 June 2020 Received in revised form 22 June 2020 Accepted 29 June 2020

Keywords:

Telemedicine  Telerehabilitation  Health services accessibility  Health legislation  Disability studies

Efficacy of tele-rehabilitation compared with office-based physical therapy in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A randomized clinical trial

Kamran Azma1,2, Zahra RezaSoltani2 , Farid Rezaeimoghaddam2 , Afsaneh Dadarkhah2 and Sarasadat Mohsenolhosseini2

Abstract

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability among the middle to senior age groups. Despite being effective, office-based physical therapy (OBPT) needs professional human resources and is both costly and time-consuming. We aimed to compare the efficacy of tele-rehabilitation (tele-rehab) compared with OBPT in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee were assigned to participate in either a 6-week home-based tele-rehab or an OBPT program between 2015 and 2016. Our primary outcome was the mean change from the baseline until 1 and 6 month’s post-intervention in scores of the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). We used analysis of variance for the repeated measure statistical test.

Results: A total of 54 patients entered the final analysis, with 27 in each group. The mean age of the patients was 58.2  7.41 years and 60.2% were female. In the tele-rehab and OBPT group, KOOS scores increased from baseline to 6 months postintervention (50.6 to 83.1 and 49.8 to 81.8) respectively. There was no significant difference between tele-rehab and OBPT groups in any of the studied scales.

Discussion: The tele-rehab program is as effective as OBPT in improving the function of patients with knee osteoarthritis. Considering the much lower time and cost consumed by tele-rehab, it is the recommended program for the older population living in remote sites.

Keywords

Tele-rehabilitation, efficacy, middle-aged, knee, osteoarthritis, pain measurement, Iran

Trauma, Teams, and Telemedicine: Evaluating Telemedicine and Teamwork in a Mass Casualty Simulation

Ashley M. Hughes, PhD*,†; Shirley C. Sonesh, PhD‡; Rachel E. Mason, MPH§; Megan E. Gregory, PhD∥,¶ ; Antonio Marttos, MD **; Carl I. Schulman, MD**; Eduardo Salas, PhD †,†

Presented at 2019 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Healthcare Symposium, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Chicago, IL, March 25, 2019; University of Illinois at Chicago Impact and Research Day, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, April 10, 2019.

The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the organizations with which they are affiliated or their sponsoring institutions or agencies. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usaa434

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Mass casualty events (MASCAL) are on the rise globally. Although natural disasters are often unavoidable, the preparation to respond to unique patient demands in MASCAL can be improved. Utilizing telemedicine can allow for a better response to such disasters by providing access to a virtual team member with necessary specialized expertise. The purpose of this study was to examine the positive and/or negative impacts of telemedicine on teamwork in teams responding to MASCAL events.

Methods:

We introduced a telemedical device (DiMobile Care) to Forward Surgical Teams during a MASCAL simulated training event. We assessed teamwork-related attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions during the MASCAL scenario through pre-post surveys and observations of use. Analyses compare users and nonusers of telemedicine and pre-post training differences in teamwork.

Results:

We received 50 complete responses to our surveys. Overall, clinicians have positive reactions toward the potential benefits of telemedicine; further, participants report a significant decrease in psychological safety after training, with users rating psychological safety as significantly higher than non-telemedicine users. Neither training nor telemedicine use produced significant changes in cognitive and behavioral-based teamwork. Nonetheless, participants reported perceiving that telemedicine improved leadership and adaptive care plans.

Conclusions:

Telemedicine shows promise in connecting Forward Surgical Teams with nuanced surgical expertise without harming quality of care metrics (i.e., teamwork). However, we advise future iterations of DiMobile Care and other telemedical devices to consider contextual features of information flow to ensure favorable use by teams in time-intensive, high-stakes environments, such as MASCAL.

The Effect of Telehealth on Hospital Services Use: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Guido M Peters1,2 , MSc; Laura Kooij2,3,4 , MSc; Anke Lenferink2 , PhD; Wim H van Harten2,4,5 , MD, Prof Dr; Carine J M Doggen1,2 , Prof Dr

1. Department of Clinical Research, Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, Netherlands

2. Department of Health Technology and Services Research, Technical Medical Centre, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

3. Department of Information and Medical Technology, Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, Netherlands

4. Division of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands

5. Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, Netherlands

Corresponding Author:

Carine J M Doggen, Prof Dr

Department of Health Technology and Services Research

Technical Medical Centre

University of Twente

Drienerlolaan 5

Enschede, 7522NB

Netherlands

Phone: 31 534897475

Email: 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。

Abstract

Background: Telehealth interventions, that is, health care provided over a distance using information and communication technology, are suggested as a solution to rising health care costs by reducing hospital service use. However, the extent to which this is possible is unclear.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of telehealth on the use of hospital services, that is, (duration of) hospitalizations, and to compare the effects between telehealth types and health conditions.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library from inception until April 2019. Peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the effect of telehealth interventions on hospital service use compared with usual care were included. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool and quality of evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation guidelines.

Results: We included 127 RCTs in the meta-analysis. Of these RCTs, 82.7% (105/127) had a low risk of bias or some concerns overall. High-quality evidence shows that telehealth reduces the risk of all-cause or condition-related hospitalization by 18 (95% CI 0-30) and 37 (95% CI 20-60) per 1000 patients, respectively. We found high-quality evidence that telehealth leads to reductions in the mean all-cause and condition-related hospitalizations, with 50 and 110 fewer hospitalizations per 1000 patients, respectively. Overall, the all-cause hospital days decreased by 1.07 (95% CI −1.76 to −0.39) days per patient. For hospitalized patients, the mean hospital stay for condition-related hospitalizations decreased by 0.89 (95% CI −1.42 to −0.36) days. The effects were similar between telehealth types and health conditions. A trend was observed for studies with longer follow-up periods yielding larger  effects.

Conclusions: Small to moderate reductions in hospital service use can be achieved using telehealth. It should be noted that, despite the large number of included studies, uncertainties around the magnitude of effects remain, and not all effects are statistically  significant.

(J Med Internet Res 2021;23(9):e25195) doi: 10.2196/25195

KEYWORDS

telehealth; systematic review; meta-analysis; hospitalization; health services use; eHealth.