Patient Demographics
145 patients had telehealth visits between March 18, 2020 and April 24,
2020. Telemedicine was used for both new and return patient visits
including pre-operative discussions, post-operative visits, and
oncologic surveillance.122 (84.1%) were conducted using a video-based
platform, while 23 (15.9%) were conducted using audio alone. Common
reasons why patients had audio-only visits included lack of access to
necessary equipment, patient preference, and technical difficulties.
108 patients were successfully contacted and 100 (92.6%) agreed to
participate in the survey. Demographics of the patients can be seen in
table 1. All patients were evaluated by one of the three head and neck
cancer surgeons. Patient disease and treatment characteristics are
presented in table 2. Patients most commonly used their smartphones
(78%), followed by their laptops (13%) for the visit.