Abstract
BACKGROUND: Telemedicine is improving healthcare delivery in orthopedic patients but the data regarding this are scarce from India, especially North India. METHODOLOGY: During this one-year prospective observational study, all patients with fractures of the upper end of tibia requiring surgical intervention and who consented to avail teleconsultation services were included. All these patients were assessed by patient satisfaction score pre-operatively. Patients were randomly assigned for post-operative care schedules of 5 and 14 days in telemedicine and inpatient visits during their follow-up period. RESULTS: A total of 50 patients were included and the satisfaction rating among the two groups was identical. The average patient satisfaction score (on a 10-point scale) was found to be 9.77 in the inpatient visits based on the one-on-one follow-up group and 9.79 in the telemedicine consultation group. CONCLUSION: In orthopedics, the implementation of telemedicine can minimize the need for the patient to physically visit the outpatient department. The rates of response and overall patient satisfaction were high in the telemedicine group. However, more efforts should be made to address the limitations and problems of using telemedicine.