Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Patient Satisfaction with Telephone Consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Horgan, T. J.; Alsabbagh, A. Y.; McGoldrick, D. M.; Bhatia, S. K.; Messahel, A.

Abstract Introduction Due to the COVID-19 pandemic most Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) units have moved to conducting patient consultations over the telephone. The aim of this study was to assess patient satisfaction with telephone consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A retrospective survey was conducted of OMFS patients at our hospital who had telephone consultations between 1st April-8th June 2020. The survey was conducted by independent interviewers and used the Generic Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale (G-MISS) along with a previously published additional questionnaire. Variables recorded included age, gender, theme of consultation, grade of clinician and type of consultation. Statistical analysis was performed to assess for any difference between patient groups. Results The records of 150 consecutive patients were reviewed and 135 met inclusion criteria. A total of 109 patients completed the survey giving a response rate of 80.74%. The total G-MISS score for satisfaction was high indicating a high level of satisfaction among all patients. We found no statistical difference in satisfaction when comparing patients in terms of gender, age, theme of consultation or level of clinician. A significant difference was found in compliance levels between review and new patients with review patients demonstrating higher compliance levels (p = 0.004). Overall, 83.48% of patients said they would be willing to have a telephone consultation in future. Conclusion The majority of patients in this study reported high levels of satisfaction with telephone consultations. New patients reported lower levels of compliance which may suggest these consultations are less amenable to telephone consultation.