Session Information
Session Title: Research Spotlight: Pain and Spine Medicine
Session Time: None. Available on demand.
Disclosures: Danielle Sarno, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest
Objective: To assess patient experiences with telemedicine visits in pain and spine care practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design: Online survey following audiovisual telemedicine visits as part of quality improvement initiative.Setting : Outpatient pain and spine care practices within an academic PM&R department.Participants : 51 patients seen for clinical evaluation and management of pain who completed a telemedicine visit and subsequent online survey.
Interventions: Self-reported online survey on aspects of experience following telemedicine visit.
Main Outcome Measures: Patient measures included visit type, duration of encounter, quality, convenience, and overall visit satisfaction.
Results: Follow-up visits were the most common telemedicine visit type (n=31, 60.8%), and duration of visit was 15 to 29 minutes (n=29, 56.9%). Most patients rated their telemedicine visit as “excellent” for addressing concerns and questions (n= 43, 84.3%), communication with provider (n =46, 90.2%), developing a treatment plan (n=42, 82.4%), and convenience (n=46, 90.2%). Overall visit satisfaction was rated “excellent” (n=46, 90.2%) or “very good” (n=5, 9.8%). Most rated value for a future telemedicine visit as “excellent” (n=40, 78.4%), “very good” (n=8, 15.7%), or “good” (n=3, 15.7%). The estimated round-trip travel time saved through telehealth exceeded an hour for a majority of patients (n = 27, 53%): 90 to 120 minutes (n= 14, 27.5%) and 60 to 89 minutes (n= 13, 25.5%).Conclusions: Most patients reported high satisfaction and value of telemedicine encounters conducted for outpatient pain and spine care practices. Future work in telemedicine may quantify spine physiatrists’ experiences and novel uses of telemedicine for post-procedure assessments and imaging review visits.
Level of Evidence: Level IV
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Sarno D, Tenforde AS, Isaac Z, Borg-Stein J, Silver JK. Patient Experiences with Telemedicine in Outpatient Pain and Spine Care Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic [abstract]. PM R. 2021; 13(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/patient-experiences-with-telemedicine-in-outpatient-pain-and-spine-care-practices-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/. Accessed May 31, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2021
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/patient-experiences-with-telemedicine-in-outpatient-pain-and-spine-care-practices-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/