Satisfaction with teleconsultation in inflammatory bowel disease patients during the covid-19 pandemic

Introduction: In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, regular health care activities had to be stopped in many centers to minimize the transmission rate of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Therefore, patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) frequently had limited access to hospital consultations. Telemedicine was rapidly applied in several hospitals to overcome this challenge, however, there is only a very limited number of studies evaluating the impact and patient satisfaction with teleconsultation in this situation, particularly in IBD patients. Aims & Methods: Our main purpose was to assess IBD patient satisfaction with teleconsultation in hospital setting during COVID-19 pandemic. We performed a retrospective study in IBD patients evaluated by telephone consultation during a pandemic peak in January-February 2021. Patients were contacted by telephone to answer a quality survey composed of 18 questions on the quality of the teleconsultation and patients who agreed to answer the survey were included. Consultations were performed by two doctors and all patients have had a previous in-person consultation with the same doctor who performed the teleconsultation. Results: Ninety-three patients were included, with a mean age of 51.7(±16.3) years-old, 45,2% were male. Thirty-eight (40.9%) patients avoided medical facilities during the pandemic and 15.1% had medical consultations canceled while only 2.2% had treatments canceled. Eight (8.6%) patients required assistance from a relative during teleconsultation while no patients reported difficulties on listening or understanding the doctor by telephone. The overall satisfaction with teleconsultation was 8 (IQR 8-9.5) in a scale of 1 to 10. Forty-two (45.2%) patients considered teleconsultation acceptable during COVID-19 pandemic and 41 (44.1%) would like to have followup teleconsultations after COVID-19 era. In the 49 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms at the time of teleconsultation, 59,2% improved symptoms after the appointment. Indication to in-person evaluation at the hospital occurred in 10 (10.8%) patients, none of those requiring evaluation at the emergency department. Medication was adjusted in 16 (17.2%) patients and in 60 (64.5%) was requested a complementary test. Preference for teleconsultation was significantly higher in younger patients (mean age 47.7 vs 56.4 years;p=0.009). Acceptance to follow-up teleconsultations in the post-pandemic future was also higher in younger patients (mean age 46.5 vs 55.7 years;p=0.007) as well as male patients (57.1% vs 33.3%;p=0.021). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that patient satisfaction with teleconsultation in IBD patients was high during the COVID-19 pandemic. Younger patients may also be more receptive to teleconsultation during and after COVID-19 pandemic. More studies are needed to further evaluate the impact of teleconsultation on IBP patients and provide an opportunity for its optional implementation in selected patients on post COVID-19 era.