Resident Physician University of Washington Seattle, Washington, United States
Introduction: The utilization of telemedicine in healthcare has increased dramatically during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to investigate the feasibility to perform follow-up after minimally invasive spine surgery using a smartphone app.
Methods: We developed and deployed a smartphone application that collects patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and provides instant messaging between patients and providers (SPINEhealthie). Patients were prospectively recruited and followed for 3 months after full-endoscopic spine surgery. Patient demographics, responses to PROMs, and the frequency of instant messaging were recorded. The ease of use, participants’ experience with the app interface design, and usefulness of the app was assessed using the mobile health app usability questionnaire (MAUQ).
Results: 71 patients were enrolled in the study. 60 (85%) patients filled out at least PROM questionnaire. There was good coverage of the immediate postoperative period with 45 (63.4%) of all patients providing 5 or more PROMs within the first week after surgery. We observed a 33.2% increase in patient compliance for postoperative PROMs and a 45.7% increase for chat function utilization between the first and last enrollment period of the study. 62 (87.3%) patients responded to the user satisfaction survey after using the app for at least 40 days. The total mean MAUQ score was 110 ± 4.1 (maximum of 147). The means of the three individual sections: ease of use and satisfaction, app interface design and usefulness, were 44, 30 and 35 respectively. At least 90% of the users had neutral or positive statements regarding the usability of the SPINEHealthie app.
Conclusion : Postoperative communication and virtual care is feasible using the SPINEHealthie app following minimally invasive spine surgery. Patients responded positively to PROM collection and overall usefulness of the app.