| Sumario: | Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, weekly vision therapy sessions were discontinued as patients were unable to receive in-person treatment. The University Eye Center (UEC) implemented several measures to foster continuity of care. Among the systems implemented were asynchronous and synchronous telehealth platforms: the Binovi smart phone application and the OTTO virtual visit platform, respectively. Methods: A thirteen-question survey was sent to all 232 UEC patients whose vision therapy was interrupted by the pandemic. The survey asked patients to rate their overall satisfaction and visual symptoms with the newly implemented therapeutic management modalities offered between March and August 2020. Sixty-three completed surveys were received. Comparison between the different therapeutic management modalities included overall satisfaction and visual symptom reduction with treatment. Results: Patients who used visually based telehealth (either synchronous or asynchronous) reported slightly higher overall satisfaction (mean: 4.43 +/-0.65) as compared to those who did not (4.04 +/- 1.09). There was no statistical difference between the groups (p-value 0.216). Patients who used visually based telehealth (either synchronous or asynchronous) reported a significant reduction in visual symptoms, with 66.7% reporting a significant decrease in symptoms, as compared to those who did not use visually based telehealth, with only 27.1% reporting a significant decrease in symptoms in the latter case (p-value 0.035). Conclusion: When in-office therapy is unavailable, interactive asynchronous or synchronous visually based telehealth modalities, such as Binovi and OTTO, are of benefit in the reduction of visual symptoms with good patient satisfaction.
|
|---|