Patient and clinician satisfaction with video consultations in dentistry - part one: patient satisfaction

Introduction Although often used in medicine, video consultations are less commonly used in dentistry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the orthodontic team at Croydon University Hospital introduced the use of video consultations to provide continued patient care at a time when face-to-face appointments were not possible. Aim To assess patient and clinician satisfaction with the Attend Anywhere video consultations used by the orthodontic team at Croydon University Hospital. Method Two separate satisfaction questionnaires were piloted and developed: one for patients and one for clinicians. All patients scheduled for a video consultation between 15 May 2020 and 15 June 2020 were invited to complete a patient satisfaction questionnaire at the end of their consultation. Results In total, 114 patients attended video consultations in the time period assessed, of which 111 completed a satisfaction questionnaire (97.4% response rate). Fifty-six percent of patients were female with an average age of 16.5 years. Patient satisfaction was highest for the video consultations being easy to use and convenient. Over 90% of patients strongly agreed or agreed with all of the satisfaction statements and in terms of whether they would recommend using video consultations. Approximately one-third of patients preferred the video consultation to a face-to-face appointment and one-third of patients were neutral. Conclusion This study found high levels of patient satisfaction with video consultations in orthodontics. Thoughtful consideration needs to be given to the application of video clinics, going forwards, to ensure that high standards of patient care are maintained.