Assessment of the Efficacy of Telephone Medicine Consultations in Trauma and Orthopaedics During COVID-19 Using the Ashford Clinic Letter Score

Abstract

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, our aim was to protect staff and patients, therefore, face-to-face clinics were converted to telephone clinics. We retrospectively compared two groups of patients: those seen in traditional clinics pre-COVID-19 and those who had telephone clinics during the pandemic. The mean Ashford Clinic Letter Score (ACLS) for the face-to-face clinic letters was 6.7, and the letters from both groups of telemedicine appointments scored better; the first group scoring 7.1 and the second 7.45. The pandemic allowed us to show that telephone clinics are effective and can be superior to traditional clinics in a specific set of patients.