Descriptive study of patient outcome and satisfaction with telemedicine and physical consultation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess patients' outcome and satisfaction with the eye care received with telemedicine and physical consultation at a tertiary care hospital during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: A descriptive study was carried out on 6052 patients who consulted for eye illness at a tertiary care hospital between April 2020 and December 2022. An outcome scoring system was developed and validated for the assessment of patient outcome after providing treatment on telemedicine consultation and physical consultation. Outcome scores for various symptoms were compared pretreatment and posttreatment. Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ) was used through an online survey to assess patients' satisfaction with teleophthalmology services during the COVID-19 pandemic. An 18-item Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18) was used to assess the same with physical consultation.

Results: A total of 6052 patients were included in the study. Physical consultation group had 2485 patients (41.06%) and the telemedicine group had 3567 patients (58.93%). Male patients constituted 63.11% and females were 36.89%. There was a significant improvement in outcome scores for pain and redness in both physical and telemedicine consultation groups (P < 0.0001). All subgroups of TUQ had significantly high scores (including usefulness, ease of use and learnability, interface quality, interaction quality, and satisfaction and future use), except one subgroup (reliability). Uneducated patients were significantly more satisfied with telemedicine compared to educated patients (P = 0.044).

Conclusion: Majority of patients expressed satisfaction with teleophthalmology services. The recent pandemic paved the way for the future integration of telemedicine in ophthalmology, especially if virtual eye examinations attain a higher level of reliability.