Publication Date
Spring 2022
Degree Type
Doctoral Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Tamara McKinnon
Keywords
Pre-anesthesia, Virtual Visits, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Telehealth, telemedicine, evaluations, assessments, in-person evaluations
Abstract
Telehealth is a dynamic, growing field in healthcare. Research has alluded to the potential of telemedicine in the pre-anesthesia area. With infection risk concerns brought to the forefront of healthcare due to the COVID pandemic, telemedicine offers an alternative evaluation method. Telehealth extends care to patients who otherwise would not have access to more comprehensive pre-anesthetic care and surveillance. Although studies show telemedicine's potential and positive effects, institutions have not extended virtual visits for all cardiac surgery pre-anesthesia patients. This retrospective evaluation study aimed to assess the impacts of telehealth on cardiac surgery pre-anesthesia assessments in a tertiary-level, private, academic hospital. The study evaluated the intervention effects of 160 cases over 90 days, using Chi-square tests of independence to compare the traditional vs. telehealth means after the intervention to compare the impact that telehealth pre-anesthesia visits have on cardiac surgery cancellations and delays on the day of surgery. There were no significant differences between telehealth and face-to-face pre-anesthesia visits, indicating that this intervention can replace face-to-face where there is an option to do so with no increase in day-of-surgery cancellations that are costly and can result in inefficiencies. The results indicate the same conclusion for day-of-surgery cancellation impacts: the visit type was independent of the cancellation rates. Future exploration of telehealth evaluations can expand to other presurgical patients and specialty areas.
Recommended Citation
Pan, Ann, "Evaluating Pre-Anesthesia Telehealth Visit Outcomes in Cardiac Surgery Patients at a Tertiary-level, Private, Academic Hospital" (2022). Doctoral Projects. 148.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.9bk3-trk2
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_doctoral/148
