S Miah1,2,3, C Dunford1,3, M Edison1, D Eldred-Evans4, C Gan1, T T Shah1,4, P Lunn1, M Winkler1, H U Ahmed1,4, N Gibbons1, D Hrouda1. 1. Department of Urology, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, Charing Cross Hospital , London , UK. 2. Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London , London , UK. 3. Both are first joint authors. 4. Division of Surgery, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London , London , UK.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: A virtual clinic is a form of telemedicine where contact between clinical teams and patients occur without face-to-face consultation. Our study aims to quantify the clinical, financial and environmental benefits of our virtual urology clinic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected data prospectively from our weekly follow-up virtual clinic over a continuous four-month period between July and September 2017. RESULTS: In total, we reviewed 409 patients. Following virtual clinic consultation, 68.5% of our patients were discharged from further follow-up. The majority of our patients (male 57.7%, female 55.5%) were of working age. The satisfaction scores were high, at 90.1%, and there were no reported adverse events as a result of using the virtual clinic. Our calculated cost savings were £18,744, with a predicted 12-month cost saving of £56,232. The creation of additional face-to-face clinic capacity has created an estimated 12-month increase in tariff generation for our unit of £72,072. In total, 4623 travel miles were avoided by patients using the virtual clinic, with an estimated avoided carbon footprint of 0.35-1.45 metric tonnes of CO2e, depending on mode of transport. Our predicted 12-month avoided carbon footprint is 1.04-4.04 metric tonnes of CO2e. CONCLUSIONS: Our virtual clinic model has demonstrated a trifecta of positive outcomes, namely, clinical, financial and environmental benefits. The environmental importance and benefits of a virtual clinic should be promoted as a social enterprise value when engaging stakeholders in setting up such a urological service. We propose the adoption of our virtual clinic model in those urological units considering this method of telemedicine.
INTRODUCTION: A virtual clinic is a form of telemedicine where contact between clinical teams and patients occur without face-to-face consultation. Our study aims to quantify the clinical, financial and environmental benefits of our virtual urology clinic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected data prospectively from our weekly follow-up virtual clinic over a continuous four-month period between July and September 2017. RESULTS: In total, we reviewed 409 patients. Following virtual clinic consultation, 68.5% of our patients were discharged from further follow-up. The majority of our patients (male 57.7%, female 55.5%) were of working age. The satisfaction scores were high, at 90.1%, and there were no reported adverse events as a result of using the virtual clinic. Our calculated cost savings were £18,744, with a predicted 12-month cost saving of £56,232. The creation of additional face-to-face clinic capacity has created an estimated 12-month increase in tariff generation for our unit of £72,072. In total, 4623 travel miles were avoided by patients using the virtual clinic, with an estimated avoided carbon footprint of 0.35-1.45 metric tonnes of CO2e, depending on mode of transport. Our predicted 12-month avoided carbon footprint is 1.04-4.04 metric tonnes of CO2e. CONCLUSIONS: Our virtual clinic model has demonstrated a trifecta of positive outcomes, namely, clinical, financial and environmental benefits. The environmental importance and benefits of a virtual clinic should be promoted as a social enterprise value when engaging stakeholders in setting up such a urological service. We propose the adoption of our virtual clinic model in those urological units considering this method of telemedicine.
Authors: Oliver Lange; Julian Plath; Timo F Dziggel; David F Karpa; Mattis Keil; Tom Becker; Wolf H Rogowski Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-06-18 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: Saiful Miah; Jonathon Maw; Karl Pang; Vineetha Nair; Satoshi Hori; Alastair Lamb; Alexander Martin; Ola Bratt; Benjamin Lamb; Nimish Shah Journal: Urol Ann Date: 2022-02-15