Telemedicine and patient satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case-control study of outpatient pediatric urology patients

Telemedicine has increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Our objective was to determine if patient satisfaction with telemedicine differed from in-person visits in an academic pediatric urology clinic. Following outpatient telemedicine and in-person pediatric urology visits, the validated NRC Health (c) Patient Survey was used to assess patient experience. Patient satisfaction was assessed on a 10-point scale with scores of 9-10 considered "satisfied" and 1-8 considered "not satisfied." Satisfaction scores between telemedicine and in-person groups were compared using McNemar's test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, and conditional logistic regression. Fifty-one patients had urology telemedicine visits during April-August 2020 and completed the NRC Health (c) Patient Survey. Propensity score matching was used to identify 102 in-person controls between January 2019 and March 2020. Ninety-two percent of telemedicine patients were satisfied compared to 87% of in-person patients (OR 1.7 95% CI [0.53-5.6]). Regression analysis adjusting for matching variables demonstrated that patient satisfaction was higher for telemedicine compared to in-person visits but was not statistically significant (OR 1.5 95% CI [0.43-5.6]). Patient satisfaction with telemedicine was similar to in-person visits in the pediatric urology clinic. Reduced waiting time and convenience associated with telemedicine visits provide an opportunity for telemedicine as a useful modality for pediatric urology.