Pain & Central Nervous System Week via NewsEdge :

2008 MAY 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- According to a study from Edmonton, Canada, "Cost analysis and patient satisfaction with telemedicine in epilepsy care (see also Epilepsy). This controlled study included out-of-town epilepsy patients coming to follow-up at the University of Alberta hospital epilepsy clinic."

"After an informed consent, patients were randomized to either conventional (n = 18) or telemedicine (n = 23) clinics. Patients or caregivers filled patient satisfaction and travel cost questionnaires in both alternatives. Cost per visit analysis included costs of traveling, lodging, and lost productivity. Average age of the population was 41 years (range 19-73; 45% women). Eighty-three percent of patients preferred their next visit through telemedicine. About 90% of patients indicated a need for companion travel (mainly by car) to conventional clinic. For the conventional group patients the value of lost productivity was CAD $201, hotel cost CAD $8.50, and the value of car mileage CAD $256.50, totaling about CAD $466.00. Patient costs for telemedicine were CAD $35.85. Telemedicine production costs are similar to the patients' savings in traveling and lost productivity. About 90% of patients in both groups were satisfied with the quality of the service. Telemedicine can play a role in follow-up care of epilepsy patients, reduce patient costs, and improve patient satisfaction," wrote S.N. Ahmed and colleagues, University of Alberta.

The researchers concluded: "This is the first full-time epilepsy telemedicine clinic in Western Canada."

Ahmed and colleagues published the results of their research in Epilepsia (Feasibility of epilepsy follow-up care through telemedicine: A pilot study on the patient's perspective. Epilepsia, 2008;49(4):573-585).

For additional information, contact S.N. Ahmed, University of Alberta Hospital, Dept. of Neurology, WCM Health Science Center, 2E3-12, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada.

The publisher of the journal Epilepsia can be contacted at: Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Rd., Oxford OX4 2DQ, Oxon, England.

<>

Return to Epilepsy News