Purpose: To report on integrated endourology suites (IES), remote monitoring and supervision (RMS) of urology residents and to evaluate patients' opinions, acceptance, and satisfaction level with IES and RMS.
Patients and Methods: Patients undergoing flexible cystoscopy in the IES with RMS were surveyed using a questionnaire. All procedures were performed by junior urology residents (UR-1 level) using RMS. Patients were studied using a nine-question survey to evaluate their comfort level, acceptance, and level of satisfaction with RMS. Six questions used a scale of 1 to 10 (1=strongly disagree; 10=strongly agree), and the remaining three questions solicited a "yes" or "no" response.
Results: 100 patients were studied (59% Caucasians, 40% African Americans, and 1% Hispanic). Median age was 63 years. The highest level of education was middle school in 2% of patients, high school in 55%, undergraduate in 33%, and postgraduate in 10%. Patients scored a mean of 9.50/10 (highly satisfactory) regarding their comfort with RMS; 96% scored ≥7, 4% scored 5 to 6, and none scored < 5. Patients were satisfied having a urology resident perform the procedure (9.48/10), other residents and medical students watch the procedure (9.41/10), a video camera in the room (9.40/10), and two-way sound communication (9.40/10). None perceived compromise to their privacy or quality of care.
Conclusions: RMS in IES is highly acceptable to patients undergoing endoscopic procedures. RMS has the potential to positively impact residency training, efficiency, regulatory compliance, safety, and productivity.
Written by:
Anderson SM, Kapp BB, Angell JM, Abd TT, Thompson NJ, Ritenour CW, Issa MM. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia.
Reference: J Endourol. 2012 Oct 25. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1089/end.2012.0406
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22905788
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