ArticleBMC rheumatology2020
E-consults: an effective way to decrease clinic wait times in rheumatology.
Article in BMC rheumatology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Referral patterns, influencing factors, and satisfaction related to referrals of patients with rheumatic diseases to other healthcare professionals: an online survey of rheumatologists.Rheumatology international · 2025Article
- Large language models and rheumatology: are we there yet?Rheumatology advances in practice · 2025Review
- Perception of recurrence risk in patients with IgG4-related disease: a descriptive phenomenological study.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2025Article
- Physician-to-Physician eConsultations to Ophthalmologists at an Academic Medical Center.Translational vision science & technology · 2024Article
- Bridging distances and saving costs: insights from a pilot project of telerheumatology in a rural area of Pakistan.Clinical rheumatology · 2024Review
- Identifying antinuclear antibody positive individuals at risk for developing systemic autoimmune disease: development and validation of a real-time risk model.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Asynchronous Technologies in Mental Health Care and Education.Current treatment options in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Impact of Telehealth on Medication Adherence in Chronic Gastrointestinal Diseases.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Public interest in musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic : Infodemiology study.Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2022Article
- Understanding the factors that affect the appropriateness of rheumatology referrals.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Identifying Content Themes in Primary Care Physician and Rheumatologist Communications Within Electronic Consultations: A Qualitative Study.ACR open rheumatology · 2021Article
- Association of eConsult Implementation With Access to Specialist Care in a Large Urban Safety-Net System.JAMA health forum · 2021Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo evaluate the effect of E-consults on wait times and resource utilization for positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) referrals in outpatient rheumatology.
methodsWe conducted a pre-post study of E-consult implementation for positive ANA referrals. We retrospectively reviewed "positive ANA" referrals from 1/2015-3/2017. A statistical process control chart was created to display monthly average wait times for in-person clinic visits and to identify special cause variation. Final diagnoses, wait times and resource utilization were recorded and compared between E-consults and in-person referrals.
resultsThere were 139 referrals for positive ANA with 126 occurring after E-consult implementation in August 2015. Forty-four percent (55/126) of referrals were E-consults; 76% did not have an in-person visit after initial electronic rheumatology recommendation. A control chart demonstrated special cause variation in the form of a shift from June 2016 - January 2017, suggesting a temporal association between decreased wait times and the implementation of E-consults. Eleven patients were diagnosed with ANA-associated rheumatic disease; the majority of patients (73%, 86/139) did not have a rheumatologic diagnosis. Overall E-consults utilized more labs than in-person visits, but this was not statistically significant. In-person visits utilized more imaging studies, which was statistically significant.
conclusionE-consults are an effective way to address positive ANA consults without significant increase in resource utilization and were temporally associated with decreased wait times for in-person visits.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.