Authors (including presenting author) :
Yip CW (1)(3), Wong TC (1)(3), Li KL (2)(3), Carrie Wong SH (2)(3), Wong WY (1)(3)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Medicine, (2) Department of Nursing, (3) Haven of Hope Hospital (HHH)
Introduction :
To promote telemedicine in sleep clinic, patient who was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) without concomitant respiratory problems were recruited to join the doctor teleconsultation since 21st June, 2023.
Objectives :
1. To investigate the patient’s acceptance of doctor teleconsultation in sleep clinic 2. To understand the reasons of patients’ refusal for doctor teleconsultation
Methodology :
Patients followed up in sleep clinic of HHH were screened by respiratory physician. Those who fulfilled the inclusion criteria would be invited to join the doctor teleconsultation. The inclusion criteria included (1) age <= 65 years old; (2) Cantonese speaking and can give verbal consent; (3) stable OSAS on CPAP. those who were newly referred, poor compliance to treatment, poor controlled OSAS and frequent defaulter (>=2 times over 3 year) would be excluded. Patients who agreed to join doctor teleconsultation would be advised to send the CPAP compliance report to SOPD by email beforehand. Outcome measures were (1) the number of patients successfully recruited for doctor teleconsultation; (2) the reasons for patients refused teleconsultation.
Result & Outcome :
From 21st June to 31st Dec, 2023, total 152 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria for doctor teleconsultation in sleep clinic. Nighty eight patients (64%) agreed and 42 of them successfully conducted the doctor teleconsultation during the study period. 32 patients (76%) had sent the compliance reports to SOPD before teleconsultation. 41 patients (98%) agreed to use teleconsultation for subsequent follow up. 54 out of 152 patients (36%) disagreed to join the teleconsultation. The most common reason of refusal was patients did not know how to use HA Go or afraid of forgetting how to use despite after education by staff (61%). Other reasons included patients requested to review reimbursement issue of civil servant during face-to-face follow up (7.4%) and no suitable place for teleconsultation in workplace (7.4%). Conclusions: For selected patients in sleep clinic, more than 60% of patients accepted follow up by doctor teleconsultation. After the first teleconsultation, most of them agreed to continue this mode of follow up. Promulgation of the use of HA Go to patients and carers may help the acceptance of teleconsultation.
