AUTHOR=Estel Katharina , Weber Gordian , Richter Luise , Hofmann Marko , Ruckdeschel Patrick , Märdian Sven , Willy Christian , Back David Alexander 

TITLE=Acceptance of Supportive Illustrations for Preparation of Patients for an Orthopedic Telemedical Consultation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2021.696721

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2021.696721

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Telemedical video consultations are powerful support for patient-doctor interactions. For optimal digital settings, explanatory illustrations may be hel-pful for patients. This study analyzed patients’ attitude to illustrations preparing for an orthopedic telemedical consultation (OTC). 
Methods: A leaflet with 8 illustrations was designed and their acceptance and esti-mated necessity was evaluated among patients who had experienced an OTC (EXP-group) and others who had not (NOV-group) with a 12-item-questionnaire. 
Results: 60 patients participated (n = 30 each group). All illustrations were evalua-ted positively. The EXP-group gave significantly higher ratings than the NOV-group for  improved understanding by the given keywords of the illustrations (p = 0.046),  preference for being informed by illustrations than by merely by a pure text (p = 0.023),  better feeling of preparation for an OTC by the illustrations (p = 0.005) and the impression of a simplified process of the OTC by the illustrations (p = 0.012).  
Discussion: While the illustrations were well accepted by the participants, signifi-cant differences were revealed between patients´ valuation of single aspects, de-pending on a previous experience with an OTC. Therefore, a leaflet with explanatory illustrations may be helpful in preparation patients for an OTC to support the digital patient-doctor contact.