The impact of telephone consultations due to COVID-19 on paediatric neurosurgical health services

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of telephone consultations due to the pandemic in the management of paediatric neurosurgical patients and, furthermore, to examine the proportion of patients who eventually needed a face-to-face appointment and assess the underline reasons for that.

Methods: This retrospective study included all the paediatric neurosurgical patients who had a telephone appointment during a 3-month lockdown period. Overall, 319 patients (186 males and 133 females) aged 8.36 ± 4.88 (mean ± SD) had a consultation via telephone. Two hundred fifty-one (78.7%) patients had a follow-up assessment and 68 (21.3%) were new appointments.

Results: Patients were divided between two main groups. Group A included 263 patients (82.4%) whose consultation was adequate via telephone, and Group B included 56 patients (17.6%) who required a complementary face-to-face appointment. Patients who were more likely to require a supplementary appointment were patients with either dysraphism or ventriculomegaly and benign enlarged subarachnoid spaces (BESS) (43.3% and 36.4%, respectively). Interestingly, most children with hydrocephalus who underwent a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion procedure and children with Chiari I malformation were appropriately assessed via telephone (85.1% and 83.3%, respectively). Finally, children aged < 2 years (55.2%) were better managed with face-to-face appointments. No difference was noticed regarding follow-up and new appointments.

Conclusion: Although telemedicine was not unknown to neurosurgical services, the actual application of telephone or video consultations remained quite limited. It was COVID-19 pandemic who reinforced the use of telemedicine, and taking into consideration its promising results, we can safely assume that it can be incorporated into neurosurgical health care even once the pandemic crisis has resolved.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Paediatric neurosurgery; Telephone consultations.

Fig. 1

Patient’s underlying pathologies

Fig. 2

Summary of consultations

Fig. 3

Patients with ventriculomegaly/BESS and spinal dysraphism who had either telephone or face-to-face consultations

Fig. 4

Patients who underwent CSF diversion procedures and patients with Chiari I malformation who had either telephone or face-to-face consultations

Fig. 5

Summary of follow-up and new appointments

Fig. 6

Summary of results in different age groups