Telemedicine Service for Keratoconus Monitoring: Patient Satisfaction and Prospects for Further Expansion.

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, keratoconus patient care moved from in-person clinics to virtual care. We surveyed patient satisfaction with the new virtual clinic model.

Methods

We assessed the views of keratoconus patients enrolled in the novel virtual service between June 1 and July 31, 2020, in individual structured telephone interviews using Likert questions.

Results

Of the 88 patients enrolled, the opinions of 69 patients could be evaluated (78.4%). Compared with previous in-person visits, mean waiting times for diagnostic examinations dropped from 43 (±32) min to 4 (±3) min (p < 0.001). The majority of patients (68; 99%) were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall service irrespective of the communication channel (telephone or video). A majority also indicated a desire to continue attending the virtual keratoconus clinic after the pandemic and supported the idea of decentralized sites for future diagnostic measurements. Discussion: A novel virtual service to monitor keratoconus progression was well received and was associated with shorter waiting times. There was a strong interest on the part of patients to further develop the virtual keratoconus clinic.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that keratoconus patients managed very well the conversion from in-person to virtual care. A solid majority of keratoconus patients also supported further expansion of the virtual consultations to a completely decentralized telemedicine model.