Mazón-Ramos P, Román-Rego A, Díaz-Fernández B, Portela-Romero M, Garcia-Vega D, Bastos-Fernández M, Rey-Aldana D, Lage-Fernández R, Cinza-Sanjurjo S, González-Juanatey JR. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon a universal electronic consultation program (e-consultation) between general practitioners and cardiologists.
Rev Clin Esp 2023:S2254-8874(23)00060-7. [PMID:
37146749 PMCID:
PMC10154244 DOI:
10.1016/j.rceng.2023.04.010]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Virtual healthcare models, usually between healthcare professionals and patients, have developed strongly during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, but there are no data corresponding to models between clinicians. An analysis was made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon the activity and health outcomes of the universal e-consultation program for patient referrals between primary care physicians and the Cardiology Department in our healthcare area.
METHODS
Patients with at least one e-consultation between 2018 and 2021 were selected. We analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon activity and waiting time for care, hospitalizations and mortality, taking as reference the consultations carried out during 2018.
RESULTS
A total of 25,121 patients were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis showed a shorter delay in care and resolution of the e-consultation without the need for face-to-face care to be associated to a better prognosis. The COVID-19 pandemic periods (2019-2020 and 2020-2021) were not associated to poorer health outcomes compared to 2018.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of our study show a significant reduction in e-consultation referrals during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a subsequent recovery in the demand for care, and without the pandemic periods being associated to poorer outcomes. The reduction in time elapsed for resolving the e-consultations and no need for face-to-face visits were associated to improved outcomes.
Collapse