ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2020
Contribution of a synchronic teleneurology program to decrease the patient number waiting for a first consultation and their waiting time in Chile.
Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reducing outpatient wait times through telemedicine: a systematic review and quantitative analysis.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- Implementation of stroke prevention: a review of challenges and opportunities in the Americas.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Review
- Impact of a telemedicine center on reducing the carbon footprint for primary health care: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina · 2025Article
- Social influence, performance expectancy, and price value as determinants of telemedicine services acceptance in Chile.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Changes in Televisit Modalities Due to the COVID Pandemic in Chile: A Comparison of Patient Satisfaction.Cureus · 2024Article
- COVID-19 patient satisfaction and associated factors in telemedicine and hybrid system.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Telemedicine in neurology: advances and possibilities.Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria · 2022Review
- Teleconsultations in neurology in a universal health system amid COVID-19: a descriptive study.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2022Article
- Evaluation of telemedicine for new outpatient neurological consultations.BMJ neurology open · 2022Article
- Video consultations during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic are associated with high satisfaction for both doctors and patients.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2021Article
- Benefits of phone consultation for endoscopy-related clinics in the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2021Article
- COVID-19 and Orthopaedics: Recovery After the Pandemic Surge.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2020Article
- Characterization of the Teleneurology Patients at the Hospital Las Higueras de Talcahuano-Chile.Frontiers in neurology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Backround There is a shortage of medical specialists in Chile, including neurologists; currently, there are 56,614 patients waiting for a first adult Neurology appointment in the country. The Teleneurology Program at the Hospital Las Higueras de Talcahuano (HHT) was implemented in 2015 to help reduce both the number of patients waiting for a first consultation and their waiting times.
methodsThis retrospective study analyzed a cohort of 8269 patients referred to the HHT Neurology clinic between 2013 and 2018, from primary, secondary, and tertiary health centers. Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the factors influencing each outcome (number of patients waiting for a consultation and waiting time), such as age, gender, referral health establishment and the type of consultation (whether in situ at the HHT or by synchronic telepresence through the Teleneurology Program).
resultsOut of the 8269 patients included in the study, 1743 consulted the neurologist through the Teleneurology Program, while 6526 received a consultation in situ at the HHT. Since its implementation (2015) until the end of 2018, the Teleneurology program contributed to decrease the number of patients waiting for their first appointment from 3084 to 298. Waiting time for the first consultation was 60% shorter for patients enrolled in the Teleneurology program than those with consultation in situ at HHT (6.23 ± 6.82 and 10.47 ± 8.70 months, respectively). Similar differences were observed when sorting patient data according to the referral health center. Cox regression analysis showed that patients waiting for a traditional in situ first adult Neurology consultation at the HHT had a higher risk (OR = 6.74) of waiting 90% longer than patients enrolled in the Teleneurology Program, without significant differences due to gender or age.
conclusionsData from this study show a significant contribution of the Teleneurology Program at the HHT to decrease the number of patients waiting for a first consultation with a neurologist, as well as shorter waiting times, when derived from primary and secondary health centers.
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