Impact of postoperative telemedicine visit versus in-person visit on patient satisfaction: A randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Although telemedicine use has increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, the impact of telemedicine versus in-person postoperative visits on patient satisfaction has not been studied prospectively. We hypothesized that telemedicine visits would be noninferior to in-person visits in terms of postoperative colorectal surgery patient satisfaction. METHODS: We conducted a randomized trial of consecutive adult patients undergoing transabdominal colorectal surgery from September 2020 to February 2021. Eligible participants were randomized 1:1 to either receive a telemedicine visit (Arm T) or an in-person visit (Arm I) for their first postoperative appointment. Subsequently, participants in Arm T completed a second postoperative visit in person, and participants in Arm I completed a second postoperative visit via telemedicine. All participants completed a patient satisfaction survey electronically within 24 hours after each postoperative visit. The primary endpoint was total patient satisfaction score. Secondary endpoints included patient-reported safety score, length of visit, and willingness of patients to recommend the practice to their peers. Fisher’s exact test, χ(2) analysis, and Student’s t test were used to compare outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 46 patients were analyzed with 23 each in Arm T and Arm I. The mean age of our study cohort was 50.6 (standard deviation 17.7) years and 52% were female. No significant differences were found between groups in terms of baseline characteristics. With respect to our primary endpoint of total satisfaction score, patient satisfaction scores in Arm T were non-inferior to those in Arm I. Similarly, there was no significant difference in satisfaction scores after the second postoperative visit when the visit types were reversed. We did not find any significant differences between groups in terms of our secondary endpoints. CONCLUSION: Postoperative telemedicine visits were a safe and time-efficient option that maintained high patient satisfaction compared with in-person postoperative visits.