Patient Satisfaction with Neurosurgery Telemedicine Visits During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: A Prospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine refers to various modalities for remote care, including telephone calls, imaging review, and real-time video teleconferencing visits. Although it has not been widely used in outpatient neurosurgery settings, the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has necessitated a broader adoption. Our goal is to show the level of patient satisfaction with their telemedicine care. METHODS: We prospectively studied consecutive telemedicine patients who scheduled outpatient neurosurgery visits from May 15 to June 8, 2020. Patients were seen by the surgeon via real-time video conferencing using Google Meet, and then completed a telemedicine satisfaction survey. Our primary outcome was telemedicine satisfaction scores. We compared satisfaction scores between new and established patients and between patients within and outside of a 15-mile radius of the nearest clinic location. Sensitivity analyses were performed to account for the nonrespondents. Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed. A P value of