ABSTRACT

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic promoted hitherto unseen uptake of telemedicine by ophthalmologists. We performed a mixed methods study to explore patters of utilization during the pandemic and perceived future utility.

Methods

Ophthalmologists practicing in Canada between March and July 2020 were invited to complete an online questionnaire assessing demographics, clinical practice characteristics and telemedicine utilization prior to and during the pandemic. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were used to analyze the data. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify groups who varied on the types of visits offered using telemedicine. Ten one-on-one interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic content analysis to explain trends observed in the survey data.

Results

Seventy-three ophthalmologists completed the survey. Six percent reported using telemedicine prior to the pandemic compared to 80% during the pandemic. A significant majority (81%) primarily used the telephone for telemedicine visits. Overall, visit volumes during the pandemic declined to 40% of pre-pandemic levels, with a smaller decline for ophthalmologists who used telemedicine than those who did not. Those who used telemedicine for all visit types were more likely to use telemedicine software and to anticipate a modest-to-large role for telemedicine in their future practice.

Discussion

For many ophthalmologists, integrating telemedicine into clinical practice may have partially offset the disruption to normal clinical activities during the pandemic. While the majority saw telemedicine as a temporary solution, a sizeable minority appear to have made considerable use of the technology and see an ongoing role for it once regular clinical activities resume.

中文翻译：

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探索眼科医生在 COVID-19 大流行期间采用远程医疗：一项混合方法研究

摘要

介绍

COVID-19 大流行促进了眼科医生前所未有地采用远程医疗。我们进行了一项混合方法研究，以探索大流行期间的使用模式和感知的未来效用。

方法

邀请 2020 年 3 月至 2020 年 7 月期间在加拿大执业的眼科医生完成在线问卷调查，以评估大流行之前和期间的人口统计数据、临床实践特征和远程医疗利用情况。使用描述性和双变量统计来分析数据。聚合层次聚类分析用于识别使用远程医疗提供的访问类型不同的组。进行了十次一对一访谈，并使用主题内容分析来分析调查数据中观察到的趋势。

结果

七十三名眼科医生完成了调查。6% 的人报告说在大流行之前使用远程医疗，而在大流行期间这一比例为 80%。绝大多数 (81%) 主要使用电话进行远程医疗访问。总体而言，大流行期间的就诊量下降到大流行前水平的 40%，使用远程医疗的眼科医生的下降幅度小于不使用远程医疗的眼科医生。那些对所有访问类型都使用远程医疗的人更有可能使用远程医疗软件，并预计远程医疗在他们未来的实践中将发挥适度到重要的作用。

讨论

对于许多眼科医生来说，将远​​程医疗整合到临床实践中可能部分抵消了大流行期间对正常临床活动的干扰。虽然大多数人将远程医疗视为一种临时解决方案，但相当一部分人似乎已经大量使用该技术，并认为一旦恢复常规临床活动，它就会发挥持续作用。