This week we published a paper about “TeleNeurology clinic high compliance and adherence” in the Israeli Medical association journal in Hebrew. This summery is provided for the wider populations. Telemedicine has a great potential of providing healthcare for individuals when access to clinics is limited. While in some subspecialties, such as dermatology and radiology, telemedicine has been proved effective it is not yet used to replace standard visits in pediatric neurology. So we wanted to check the acceptance of treatment and follow- up for online neuropediatric clinics.
We reviewed medical records for new prescriptions, refill requests and clinical follow-up for children visiting Neuropediatric clinics.
Our findings:
We reviewed electronic medical records of 78 school aged children who visited the online neuropediatric clinic for 2 years (Oct 2015 – Nov 2017) these included: 78 first visits, 44 follow-up visits. First visit lasted 50 minutes including connection time and technical time. As common is Israeli neuropediatric clinics most children were referred due to ADD/ADHD. This was followed by behavioral/ emotional issues, headaches/ migraines, learning disabilities, epilepsy and other less common neurological issues. After most visits follow up was recommended most cases mainly for ADD/ADHD and headaches/ migraines to check if treatment was effective. In most cases children and parents returned for follow up especially those with ADD/ADHD. Only a few (4%) continued follow-up in a regular clinic instead of the online- clinic. Medication was recommended for most of the children with ADD/ADHD and all of them went to their pediatrician for the paper prescription (as it could not be prescribed digitally). Moreover most of the patients continued medication according to their refill request.
In conclusion
children and parents cooperate and accept online tele-neurology clinics, especially in cases of ADHD. We do recommend to compare online services to regular visits so we would be able to assess additional benefits of specialists healthcare delivery to underserved populations.
three suggestion regarding tele-medicine:
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Reimbursement- should be equal to face to face treatment
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Voluntary- this is a treatment of choice- both the doctor and patient have to chose when to use
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Technical issues- are expected. don’t be surprised or overwhelmed by them