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. 2022 Mar;52(3):411-417.
doi: 10.1111/imj.15068.

Delivering inflammatory bowel disease care across distance

Ming Han Lim  1 , Anna McMahon  1 , Graham Radford-Smith  1   2   3
Affiliations

Delivering inflammatory bowel disease care across distance

Ming Han Lim et al. Intern Med J. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients living in regional or remote Queensland are often disadvantaged by limited access to IBD specialist care. Telehealth clinics could potentially address this disparity and improve patient outcomes.

Aim: We report the impact of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) IBD telehealth clinics from March 2011 to December 2017, including patient satisfaction and healthcare activity.

Methods: Patient satisfaction surveys were collected prospectively between March 2011 and March 2012. Healthcare activity was assessed through occasions of service (OOS), number of enrolled patients on biologics and IBD related admissions to RBWH.

Results: Overall, 3764 OOS were completed including 576 new patient and 3188 follow-up visits. Mean age at first telehealth visit was 44 years (range: 16-87 years). The IBD telehealth clinics were well accepted with 99% of the first 153 patients surveyed choosing to continue with telehealth and 94% rated the telehealth experience as very good or excellent. The net number of patients under active review increased from 125 patients in 2011 to 345 patients in 2017. Enrolled patients on biologics also increased from 9 patients in 2011 to 63 patients in 2017. There was an initial dip in annual IBD related admissions to RBWH in 2011 but these have progressively increased over time although the average length of inpatient stay annually has remained stable.

Conclusion: The RBWH IBD telehealth clinics have shown that telemedicine is well received and can be used successfully to deliver IBD specialist care to patients living in regional or remote areas.

Keywords: inflammatory bowel disease; telehealth; telemedicine.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) catchment area and telehealth sites in Rockhampton and Bundaberg.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Patients under active review by the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital inflammatory bowel disease telehealth clinics by year.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total occasions or service, new patient visits and follow‐up visits by year. (formula image), New patient visits; (formula image), follow‐up visits; (formula image), total occasions of service.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Total, planned and unplanned inflammatory bowel disease related admissions to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for patients living in Wide Bay and Central Queensland by year. (formula image), Total admissions; (formula image), planned admissions; (…), unplanned admissions.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Annual proportion of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) admissions known to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) telehealth clinics and annual ratio of IBD admissions to number of enrolled RBWH IBD telehealth patients. (formula image), Annual proportion of IBD admissions known to RBWH IBD telehealth; (formula image), Annual ratio of IBD admissions to RBWH IBD telehealth paients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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