Telemedicine in Otolaryngology in the COVID-19 Era: A Year Out.

Publication/Presentation Date

12-1-2021

Abstract

One year ago, shortly after the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we published our initial experience with telemedicine. We showed that during the early pandemic, there was a dramatic shift to telemedicine and that 70% of our patients would decline telemedicine in favor of an in-person visit. As clinical limitations and stay-at-home orders relaxed, we sought to define how we have used telemedicine since. After the initial month of the pandemic, our utilization of telemedicine fell to an average of only 5% of visits over the past year. Nearly 80% of all telemedicine visits were routine follow-up visits, with its usage being unaffected by local policy and pandemic surges. The usefulness and applications of telemedicine have been well described; however, after our initial reliance on telemedicine, its use has been minimal. Moving forward, attention will need to focus on innovation and expanding comprehensive virtual examinations for otolaryngology to fully embrace this technology.

Volume

13

Issue

12

First Page

20794

Last Page

20794

ISSN

2168-8184

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

35111474

Department(s)

Department of Surgery

Document Type

Article

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