title: e-Consultation Improves Efficacy in Thoracic Surgery Outpatient Clinics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is analysing the impact of the systematic versus occasional videoconferencing discussion of patients with two respiratory referral units along 6 years of time over the efficiency of the in-person outpatient clinics of a thoracic surgery service.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective and comparative study of the evaluated patients through videoconferencing and in-person first visits during two equivalents periods of time: Group A (occasional discussion of cases) between 2008-2010 and Group B (weekly regular discussion) 2011-2013. Data were obtained from two prospective and electronic data bases. The number of cases discussed using e-consultation, in-person outpatient clinics evaluation and finally operated on under general anaesthesia in each period of time are presented. For efficiency criteria, the index: number of operated on cases/number of first visit outpatient clinic patients is created. Non-parametric Wilcoxon test is used for comparison.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean number of patients evaluated at the outpatient clinics/year on group A was 563 versus 464 on group B. The median number of cases discussed using videoconferencing/year was 42 for group A versus 136 for group B. The mean number of operated cases/first visit at the outpatient clinics was 0.7 versus 0.87 in group B (P=.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The systematic regular discussion of cases using videoconferencing has a positive impact on the efficacy of the outpatient clinics of a Thoracic Surgery Service measured in terms of operated cases/first outpatient clinics visit.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España. Electronic address: nuria.novoa@usal.es.
authors.forename: Nuria M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Novoa
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España.
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España.
authors.forename: Marcelo F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Jiménez López
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España.
authors.forename: Jose L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Aranda
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neumología, Complejo Asistencial Universitario de León, León, España.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bollo de Miguel
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neumología, Complejo Asistencial Universitario de León, León, España.
authors.forename: Florentino
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Diez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neumología, Hospital Nuestra Señora de Sonsoles, Ávila, España.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hernández Hernández
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España.
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Varela
mesh_terms: D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000601:surgery*; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D009819:Office Visits; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013903:Thoracic Surgery / Q000458:organization & administration*; D049269:Videoconferencing
keywords: Cirugía torácica; Consultas externas; Interdisciplinary health team; Outpatient clinics; Reunión multidisciplinar; Telemedicina; Telemedicine; Thoracic surgery; Videoconferencia; Videoconferencing; e-Consultation; e-Medicina