Telehealth for outpatient spine consultation: What do the patients think?

Objectives: We aimed to identify patient specific characteristics associated with a favourable telehealth experience in patients undergoing outpatient spine consultation. Methods: We enrolled consecutive patients undergoing telehealth spine consultation during the initial months of the COVID 19 pandemic. We used an online, patient reported survey that collected demographic and disease specific information, as well as validated patient reported outcome measures. Survey items also assessed patients' perspective of their telehealth experience. We performed univariate analysis to assess for any relationship between patient satisfaction and demographic and disease specific factors, and also collected qualitative responses regarding telehealth. Results: 170 unique responses were collected. 35.8% of patients were satisfied with telehealth. When stratified into satisfied (n = 61) and unsatisfied (n = 109), female patients were exclusively unsatisfied with their experience (100% unsatisfied vs male patients 30% unsatisfied, p < 0.01). The groups were similar in terms of age, travel burden, and disease severity. Qualitative responses focussed on the patients' concerns being able to adequately express their symptoms and functional limitations. Conclusions: Patients attending outpatient spinal consultation via telehealth reported a satisfaction rate of 35.8%. Female patients were less likely to be satisfied with telehealth. Patients described concerns being able to express themselves via telehealth. This may be amenable to further study and intervention as telehealth becomes a more prominent part of spinal care.