Patient satisfaction with synchronous telehealth care after strabismus surgery.

Abstract

Background: To measure patient satisfaction with synchronous telehealth care, we administered the Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire (TSQ) to assess the quality of care provided, its similarity to face-to-face meetings, and patients' perception of the interaction.

Methods: The Portuguese version of the TSQ was administered during 2022 to patients who received postoperative synchronous telehealth care after strabismus surgery in Curitiba, Brazil, from 2020 to 2022. The interval between the questionnaire application and teleconsultation ranged from 2 to 22 months after the telehealth encounter. All patients received synchronous telehealth care from the same surgeon (LMH) between postoperative days 7 and 10 and attended an in-person consultation on postoperative day 30 6 months after surgery, and yearly thereafter.

Results: We analyzed the data for 53 patients, of whom 26 (49%) were male and 28 (53%) were <18 years of age. Synchronous telehealth care was considered an excellent experience, with an overall average TSQ rating of 4.3 on a scale of 1-5. The mean score for quality of care provided was 4.1; for similarity of care to face-to-face meetings, 4.5; and for patients' perception of the interaction, 4.5.

Conclusions: Ratings of the synchronous telehealth care were strongly associated with the 30-day postoperative evaluation, and patient perceptions of the quality of care in the telehealth encounter were positive.