•  
  •  
 

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25035/jsmahs.10.02.03

Abstract

Objective: Compare patient satisfaction between telemedicine and in-office visits and between providers post-operatively in an orthopedics setting with athletic trainers and physicians.

Design: Cross-sectional study

Methods: Patients from a Sports Medicine Clinic that received an orthopedic surgical intervention from March 2020-September 2021, and engaged in telemedicine, or an in-office visit post-operatively. Provider type included full-time athletic trainers, resident athletic trainers, physician (MD) resident/fellows, and float athletic trainers. Press-Ganey Patient Experience Surveys were collected at the time of follow up visit, with focus on items, “likelihood to recommend” and “how well staff worked together.”

Results: There was a total of 255 patients (age=50±17 years). Providers included the attending physician with full-time athletic trainers (n=134, 52.3%), resident athletic trainers (n=77, 30.1%), MD residents/fellows (n=38, 14.8%), or float athletic trainers (n=6, 2.3%). No significant difference was found with patient satisfaction between in-office (n=175, 68.4%), or telemedicine visits (n=80, 31.3%), (p>.44). Patients were more satisfied with care provided by the full-time athletic trainers compared to MD residents/fellows (p.18).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates no significant differences with patient satisfaction between in-office or telemedicine visits. Patients seeing full-time athletic trainers had the highest patient satisfaction, demonstrating the capability of athletic trainers to effectively use telemedicine in a physician practice.

Additional Files
JSMAHS_Figure1.png (27 kB)
Figure 1
JSMAHS_Tabe1.docx (12 kB)
Table 1
JSMAHS_Table2.docx (12 kB)
Table 2
JSMAHS_Table3.docx (12 kB)
Table 3
JSMAHS_Table4.docx (12 kB)
Table 4
JSMAHS_Table3_Revision.docx (12 kB)
Table 3 Revised

Attestation

1

Download

Share

COinS