326 Is Patient Satisfaction Affected by Replacing Face-to-Face Appointments with Telephone Assessments for Balance Complaints?

Abstract

Abstract Aim It was found that 91% of surgeons conducted virtual consultations during COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, ENT UK recommended that telephone review should be the first approach for all outpatients who do not need urgent treatment. Dizziness diagnoses may be made primarily from the medical history, making telephone clinics suitable. This study aims are to determine the level of patient satisfaction with telephone consultations for balance complaints.

Method The electronic patient records of ENT patients were reviewed retrospectively to identify all adult patients with first presentation of dizziness between October 2020 and May 2021.Patients were contacted by telephone and completed the short form patient satisfaction questionnaire (PQS-18). The statistical software SPSS was used for analysis.

Results 26 out of 37 patients contacted were reached successfully giving a response rate of 70%. There were 12 patients in the telephone consultation group and 14 patients in the face-to-face group. Average general satisfaction and satisfaction with technical quality were lower in the telephone consultation group (p-values of 0.012 and 0.007 respectively). Total average score was also lower in telephone consultation group with p-value of 0.028. 91% of patients who had initial assessment by telephone needed a follow up face to face consultation as opposed to only 14% in the face-to-face group.

Conclusion Patients were less satisfied with primary assessment of balance complaints by telephone. Most of these patients required face-to-face follow up consultations.