ArticleCureus2021
How Effective Are Telephone and Video Consultations in Shoulder and Elbow Clinics? Analysis Using an Objective Scoring Tool.
Article in Cureus, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Online video versus face-to-face patient-surgeon consultation: a systematic review.Surgical endoscopy · 2024Pooled it
- Virtual orthopaedic clinic follow-up for upper limb arthroplasty in a tertiary referral centre.Shoulder & elbow · 2025Article
- Article
- Orthopedic Telemedicine Outpatient Practice Diagnoses Set during the First COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown-Individual Observation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in disruptions of clinical services, which saw more clinics being conducted as telephone and videos. The study aimed to assess and compare the effectiveness of consultations, that is, telephone, video, and face-to-face (F2F) in a shoulder and elbow clinic.
methodsA total of 84 clinic letters from a shoulder and elbow clinic at a district general hospital were analysed using the Ashford Clinic Letter Scoring System. Of these, 30 were F2F, 30 were telephone, and 24 were video consultations. The letters were analysed and scored based on four parameters, that is, whether a working diagnosis was formulated, relevant investigations were requested or available, a clear management plan was formulated, and whether the consultation was deemed valuable by both the clinician and patient.
resultsThe mean score (out of a total possible of eight) for F2F was 7.967, 7.667 for video, and 7.333 for telephone consultations. Amongst new referrals, F2F performed the best, followed by video with telephone consultations scoring the lowest. With follow-up referrals, the performance of telephone and video consultations was similar but more inferior compared to F2F. Videos performed nearly as well as F2F when it came to formulating treatment plans for patients. Conclusion: F2F consultations remain the gold standard in a shoulder and elbow clinic; however, careful stratification of patients into video, telephone, and F2F clinics can help in optimal delivery of care. These findings can be applied to other surgical specialties and medicine in general. Virtual clinics are viable and potentially cost-effective options to the traditional F2F.
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Registered trials
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.