Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To test feasibility and acceptability of teleconferencing routine outpatient consultations. DESIGN: Exploratory trial of teleconferenced outpatient referrals of general practitioners. SETTING: An inner city teaching hospital and surrounding general practices. SUBJECTS: Six general practices linked to hospital outpatient clinics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Levels of participants' satisfaction measured with self administered questionnaires. RESULTS: 54 teleconsultations were performed in 10 different specialties. Few serious technical problems were encountered, and high levels of satisfaction with the consultations were reported by patients, hospital specialists, and general practitioners. CONCLUSIONS: Teleconferenced consultations for routine outpatient referrals with joint participation of general practitioner were feasible. These may have an important potential benefit for improving communication between primary and secondary care.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Allen A., Hayes J. Patient satisfaction with teleoncology: a pilot study. Telemed J. 1995 Spring;1(1):41–46. doi: 10.1089/tmj.1.1995.1.41. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bailey J. J., Black M. E., Wilkin D. Specialist outreach clinics in general practice. BMJ. 1994 Apr 23;308(6936):1083–1086. doi: 10.1136/bmj.308.6936.1083. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dwyer T. F. Telepsychiatry: psychiatric consultation by interactive television. Am J Psychiatry. 1973 Aug;130(8):865–869. doi: 10.1176/ajp.130.8.865. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fry J., Sandler G. Domiciliary consultations: some facts and questions. BMJ. 1988 Jul 30;297(6644):337–338. doi: 10.1136/bmj.297.6644.337. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Littlejohns P. C. Domiciliary consultation--who benefits? J R Coll Gen Pract. 1986 Jul;36(288):313–315. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McLaren P., Ball C. J. Telemedicine: lessons remain unheeded. BMJ. 1995 May 27;310(6991):1390–1391. doi: 10.1136/bmj.310.6991.1390. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rinde E., Nordrum I., Nymo B. J. Telemedicine in rural Norway. World Health Forum. 1993;14(1):71–77. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Roland M., Bewley B. Boneline: evaluation of an initiative to improve communication between specialists and general practitioners. J Public Health Med. 1992 Sep;14(3):307–309. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Vierhout W. P., Knottnerus J. A., van OOij A., Crebolder H. F., Pop P., Wesselingh-Megens A. M., Beusmans G. H. Effectiveness of joint consultation sessions of general practitioners and orthopaedic surgeons for locomotor-system disorders. Lancet. 1995 Oct 14;346(8981):990–994. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)91686-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]