ArticleCMAJ open
Virtual surgical consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic: a patient-oriented, cross-sectional study using telephone interviews.
Article in CMAJ open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- First Nation and Métis Needs Assessment for Pre-Surgical Rehabilitation and Education of Hip and Knee Total Joint Replacements in Saskatchewan: Uplifting Indigenous Knowledges.Health services insights · 2026Article
- The role of socioeconomic status in resolution of type 2 diabetes mellitus following longitudinal sleeve gastrectomy.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Article
- Patients' experiences of a Virtual Fracture Assessment Clinic Pathway: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Exploring differences in patient participation in simulated emergency cases in co-located and distributed rural emergency teams - an observational study with a randomized cross-over design.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealth care delivery shifted rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby virtual consultations replaced many face-to-face interactions. We sought to gather patient perspectives on their experiences with virtual surgical consultation, the advantages and disadvantages of this delivery method and their overall satisfaction with virtual appointments.
methodsWe conducted a patient-oriented, cross-sectional study. Adult patients (age > 18 yr) who had a virtual consultation with a participating general surgeon in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, from April to May 2020 were eligible. We conducted telephone interviews using open- and close-ended questions. We used thematic analysis to determine themes from the qualitative data. As research team members, 2 patient partners were involved in identifying priorities, developing the research question, designing research methods, analyzing data and disseminating findings. We analyzed and presented quantitative data descriptively.
resultsWe interviewed 45 participants from 7 general surgery practices; the average age was 62 years. Most participants lived outside Saskatoon and had virtual follow-up appointments. The 3 themes related to advantages of virtual consultations were convenience, cost savings and decreased exposure to pathogens. The 4 themes related to their disadvantages were that they were not as personal, the surgeon was not able to perform a physical examination, and there were issues with scheduling and issues with technology. Most participants were satisfied with the care they received (
interpretationWe found that virtual consultations are an effective and efficient way to deliver surgical care but are not appropriate for every situation and cannot completely replace face-to-face interactions. Our study identified the advantages and disadvantages of virtual surgical consultation to help better guide the delivery of virtual care in the future.
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Registered trials
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