Telemedicine in cardiology outpatient clinic: First experience from a tertiary medical center during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives: A pronounced spread of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) all over the world has led to unpredictable overfilling of medical facilities, thus opening the way for the implication of digital health. We aimed at assessing first-time experience of telemedicine (TM) in the cardiology outpatient clinic of a tertiary medical center during the pandemic. Materials and Methods: TM was used in the cardiology outpatient clinic from April 7th to May 29th, 2020. All the patients that had applied to TM were included in the study. TM was performed by phone calls. The data written by the cardiologist telecommunicating with the patients were recorded by accessing each patient's electronic file. Assessment of TM in terms of efficacy and patient satisfaction was made in August 2020 by recalling all the patients by phone. Results: A total of 140 patients had TM visit on the appointment day. The population was older (69±13.75) with a male predominance (53.5%). Main complaints were chest pain and high blood pressure. Twenty patients had their medical drugs rearranged. Forty-two patients were invited for face-to-face cardiac evaluation. One of them was hospitalized due to heart failure. Almost all (93.6%) were very satisfied and preferred TM instead of face-to-face outpatient clinic service in terms of easy complaint expression and easy understanding of medication rearrangement (53.6%). They stated that TM was efficient in the prevention of unnecessary hospital visits and it should continue after the pandemic as well. Conclusion: TM is a potential alternative for continuing healthcare delivery to most of the cardiac patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research comparing other digital health tools is needed to accurately assess its use in cardiological care.