The Shoulder Telehealth Assessment Tool in Transition to Distance Orthopedics

Abstract

The role of telehealth in orthopedic surgery is rapidly expanding, a movement largely brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Virtual clinic encounters using a video chat platform or a simple telephone call offer the patient and surgeon numerous advantages that are now better appreciated by the orthopedic community at large. However, barriers to effective patient evaluation exist, and a successful patient assessment is highly dependent on technique. In particular, performing a shoulder physical examination during a virtual encounter poses many obstacles. We present a technique to complete a patient-led, comprehensive shoulder physical examination using an easy-to-understand pictorial guide called the Shoulder Telehealth Assessment Tool (STAT). A STAT form is provided to the patient and designed to be completed at home without the real-time instruction of a provider, before the virtual encounter. Parameters include assessments of all planes of shoulder range of motion, visual analog scale (VAS) and Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE) scores, and the components necessary to allow for conversion to an abbreviated Constant shoulder score if the provider so desires.