In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed existing stressors in the neurosurgical care infrastructure in the United States. We aimed to detail innovative technologic solutions inspired by the pandemic-related restrictions that augmented neurosurgical education and care delivery.
Methods
Several digital health and audiovisual innovations were implemented, including use of remote video technology to facilitate inpatient consultations and outpatient ambulatory virtual visits, optimize regional hospital neurosurgical coverage, expand interdisciplinary patient management conferences (i.e., tumor board), and further enhance the neurosurgical resident education program. Enterprise patient experience data were queried to evaluate patient satisfaction following the switch to virtual visits.
Results
Between January 2020 and April 2021, use of virtual visits more than doubled in the Department of Neurosurgery. A survey of 10,772 patients following ambulatory visits showed that virtual visits were equal if not better in providing satisfactory patient care than in-person visits. After switching our interdisciplinary spine tumor board to a virtual meeting, we increased surgeon participation and attendance by 49.29%. Integration of remote audiovisual technology in resident didactics and clinical training improved our ability to provide comprehensive and personalized educational experiences our trainees.
Conclusions
Digital health technology has improved neurosurgical care and comprehensive training at our institution. Investment in the technologic infrastructure required for these remote audiovisual services during the COVID-19 pandemic will facilitate the expansion of neurosurgical care provision for patients across the United States in the future. Governing bodies within organized neurosurgery should advocate for the continued financial and licensing support of these service on a national fiscal and policy level.
Key words
Care access
COVID-19
Digital health
Pandemic
Practice policy
Abbreviations and Acronyms
AANS
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
APP
Advanced practice provider
CNS
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
CG-CAHPS
Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician & Group Survey
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019
EHR
Electronic health record
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the article content was composed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
