Patient satisfaction with a virtual multidisciplinary team balance clinic: a pilot study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to many services being conducted remotely, including ear, nose and throat services. Although much in-person activity has now resumed, some services are still being provided remotely. This pilot study explored patients' satisfaction with the virtual multidisciplinary team balance clinics established at the authors' practice, looking at the feasibility of continuing this model of service delivery in the future. Self-administered questionnaires were posted to the 56 patients who had received a virtual consultation with the service between March and September 2020, of which 22 were returned. The questionnaire presented respondents with 14 items, with which they rated their agreement on a 6-point Likert scale. Correlations between the final item (which measured overall satisfaction) and the other items were analysed using Spearman's rho. Overall, respondents were satisfied with the virtual consultations. Respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with 13 of the 14 items; the only exception was ‘I obtained better access to healthcare services by use of telemedicine’. Most respondents were happy with the quality of communication and valued the time saved on travel, although one pointed out that this may not be an appropriate mode of service delivery for patients who are deaf. Virtual clinics can be an acceptable adjunct to traditional clinical consultations in an ear, nose and throat outpatient department for balance disorders and should be continued in future.