Comparison and Opinion on the Safety of Teleconsultation Versus Traditional Anaesthetic Consultation in a Day Hospital

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pre-anaesthetic Consultation

Treatments: Other: preanaesthetic classical physical consultation; Other: preanaesthetic teleconsultation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06248060

SRB2023303

Details and patient eligibility

About

A pre-anaesthetic consultation is compulsory. It must be carried out at least 8 days before a scheduled medical and/or surgical operation. Its main objectives are to take the patient's history, carry out a clinical examination, select the complementary examinations that should be carried out, and inform the patient of the procedure and the type of anaesthetic proposed. In a world moving towards virtualisation, a number of medical specialities have opted for remote consultations, either by telephone or video-conferencing. Teleconsultation seems to offer greater satisfaction, not only for patients, but also for surgeons and anaesthetists. It is also associated with a reduction in the distance travelled by patients, costs and financial expenditure, with no increase in the rate of cancellation of surgery. For the first time at the Brussels University Hospital (Erasme), the anaesthesia and intensive care team will gradually introduce the system of pre-anaesthetic teleconsultation by telephone from October 2023.

The aim of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness of preanaesthetic teleconsultation at the Erasme HUB. In fact, it would be better to have results based on local expertise in order to give an answer on the effectiveness, safety and security of this innovative method, which will be officially implemented in October 2023.

Enrollment: 300 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria for prospective group (AFTER):

• Patients scheduled for any surgery at one day hospital and who have signed the consent form.
• Pre-anaesthetic consultation by telephone.

Inclusion Criteria for retrospective group (BEFORE):

• patients having undergone any surgery at one day hospital during the period between 01/01/2023 and 31/06/2023.
• Pre-anaesthetic consultation carried out face-to-face.
• Patients eligible for teleconsultation

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participation in another clinical study within the previous month.
• Patient unable to complete the questionnaire.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Screening

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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300 participants in 2 patient groups

Before preanaesthetic teleconsultation implementation

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Other: preanaesthetic classical physical consultation

After preanaesthetic teleconsultation implementation

Experimental group

Treatment:

Other: preanaesthetic teleconsultation