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Interprofessional Consultations (eConsults) in Urology.

Authors :
Patel M
Gadzinski AJ
Bell AM
Watts K
Steppe E
Odisho AY
Yang CC
Ellimoottil C
Source :
Urology practice [Urol Pract] 2021 May; Vol. 8 (3), pp. 321-327. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Dec 02.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Introduction: An interprofessional consultation (eConsult) is an asynchronous form of telehealth whereby a primary care provider requests electronic consultation with a specialist in place of an in-person consultation. While eConsults have been successfully implemented in many medical specialties, their use in the practice of urology is relatively unknown.<br />Methods: We included data from four academic institutions: University of Michigan, University of California -San Francisco, University of Washington, and Montefiore Medical Center. We included every urological eConsult performed at each institution from the launch of their respective programs through August 2019. We considered an eConsult "converted" when the participating urologist recommended a full in-person evaluation. We report eConsult conversion rate, response time, completion time, and diagnosis categories.<br />Results: A total of 462 urological eConsults were requested. Of these, 36% were converted to a traditional in-person visit. Among resolved eConsults, with data on provider response time available (n=119),53.8% of eConsults were addressed in less than 1 day; 28.6% in 1 day; 8.4% in 2 days; 3.4% in 3 days; 3.4% in 4 days; 1.7% in 5 days; and 0.8% in ≥6 days. Among resolved eConsults, with data on provider completion time available (n=283), 50.2% were completed in 1-10 minutes; 46.7% in 11-20 minutes; 2.8% in 21-30 minutes; and less than 1% in ≥31 minutes.<br />Discussion: Our study suggests that eConsults are an effective avenue for urologists to provide recommendations for many common non-surgical urological conditions and thus avoid a traditional in-person for low-complexity situations. Further investigation into the impact of eConsults on healthcare costs and access to urological care are necessary.<br />Competing Interests: DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2352-0779
Volume :
8
Issue :
3
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Urology practice
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
33928183
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1097/UPJ.0000000000000209