[Attitude of patients to possible telemedicine in ophthalmology : Survey by questionnaire in patients with glaucoma].

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 severely restricted the care of ophthalmology patients. Teleophthalmological services, such as video consultation or medical telephone advice could, at least partially, compensate for the lack of necessary controls in the case of chronic diseases; however, teleophthalmological options are currently still significantly underrepresented in Germany.

Objective: In order to determine the willingness of patients to use telemedicine and the virtual clinic, we conducted a survey using a questionnaire on the subject of teleophthalmology in university medicine patients with known glaucoma as a chronic disease during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A total of100 patients were interviewed. The questionnaire contained 22 questions with multiple choice possible answers. The inclusion criterion was the presence of glaucoma as a chronic disease, age over 18 years, and sufficient linguistic understanding to answer the questions. The data were collected, analyzed and anonymously evaluated.

Results: In the patient survey it could be shown that the respondents with glaucoma are very willing to do teleophthalmology and that this would be utilized. Of the patients surveyed 74.0% would accept telemedicine and virtual clinics. Of the ophthalmological patients surveyed 54.0% stated that their visit to the doctor/clinic could not take place due to SARS-CoV‑2 and 17.0% of the patients stated that the SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic had changed their opinion of telemedicine.

Discussion: The acceptance of telemedicine in patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma seems surprisingly high. This has been increased even further by the SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic. These results reflect a general willingness of patients with chronic eye disease but do not reflect the applicability and acceptance and applicability from a medical point of view; however, this form of virtual consultation is accepted by the majority of patients with glaucoma and could be considered for certain clinical pictures.