Telemedicine practices in the pediatric urology department
Ömer Barış Yücel1
, Ali Tekin1, Denizay Avcı2, Sibel Tiryaki1, Uygar Bağcı1, İbrahim Ulman1
1Department of Pediatric Surgery, Division of Pediatric Urology, Medicine Faculty of Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye
2Department of Pediatric Surgery, Medicine Faculty of Ege University, Izmir, Türkiye
Keywords: COVID-19, pediatric urology, telemedicine.
Abstract
Objectives: In this study, we aimed to assess the perspective of the patients and the parents regarding their satisfaction with the televisits in our center.
Patients and methods: Between November 2019 and December 2021, a total of 247 participants (155 males, 92 girls, median age 76.9 months; range, 4.9 to 518.6 months) who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. A questionnaire which was prepared to evaluate parents' satisfaction with telemedicine, was sent to parents of the children who were evaluated with televisits.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the satisfaction and simplicity scores according to the diagnosis (p=0.099 and p=0.243, respectively). Also, 77% of parents in our study found televisits similar to face-to-face (in-person) visits.
Conclusion: Our study results show that patient satisfaction with televisit is high in terms of ease of use, shortened travel time and reduced cost. In addition, televisit provides parents with a positive opportunity to take time off from work. The majority of our participants reported that they desired to continue televisit after the end of the pandemic.
Citation: Yücel ÖB, Tekin A, Avcı D, Tiryaki S, Bağcı U, Ulman İ. Telemedicine practices in the pediatric urology department. Turkish J Ped Surg 2023;37(3):93-98. doi: 10.62114/JTAPS.2023.72887.
The study protocol was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee of Ege University (date: 13.01.2022, no: 22-1T/26). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
A written informed consent was obtained from the patients and/or parents of the patients.
Data Sharing Statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Idea/concept: S.T.; Design: Ö.B.Y., A.T., S.T.; Control/supervision: İ.U.; Data collection and/or processing: Ö.B.Y., D.A., U.B.; Analysis and/or interpretation: Ö.B.Y., A.T.; Literature review: Ö.B.Y., S.T.; Writing the article: Ö.B.Y., A.T., S.T.; Critical review: A.T., S.T., İ.U.; References and fundings: Ö.B.Y.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.