@article {Crookfhj.2022-0006, author = {Rebecca L Crook and Hina Iftikhar and Steven Moore and Phillipa Lowdon and Pedram Modarres and Simon Message}, title = {A comparison of in-person versus telephone consultations for outpatient hospital care}, elocation-id = {fhj.2022-0006}, year = {2022}, doi = {10.7861/fhj.2022-0006}, publisher = {Future Healthcare Journal}, abstract = {The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has triggered a transition towards telemedicine for delivering outpatient care. The evidence base for telemedicine is heterogeneous and its efficacy remains debated. We, therefore, designed a mixed-methods semi-structured survey to evaluate patients{\textquoteright} and clinicians{\textquoteright} experiences of outpatient telemedicine clinics during the pandemic. One-hundred and eighty-eight patients and 69 clinicians from two hospitals in Gloucestershire completed the survey. The quantitative results for patients rated in-person and telemedicine appointments similarly in all areas except communication (p\<0.001) and overall quality (p=0.004), both in favour of in-person consultations, while clinicians rated all aspects of telemedicine appointments as inferior, with the exception of convenience (p=0.643). Qualitative analysis highlighted themes of communication and relationship building difficulties, confidentiality concerns, loss of visual inspection as a clinical tool and debatable time efficiency associated with telemedicine. Significant adaptation of current telemedicine services is required before it will be integrated into current practice.}, issn = {2514-6645}, URL = {https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/early/2022/05/05/fhj.2022-0006}, eprint = {https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/early/2022/05/05/fhj.2022-0006.full.pdf}, journal = {Future Healthcare Journal} }