Telemedicine Services Are Acceptable to Neurologists for the Delivery of Outpatient Specialty Neurology Care During the Covid-19 Pandemic, but Require Improvement

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telemedicine services for the delivery of outpatient neurological care. To date, teleneurology has been primarily used in the hospital setting related to both billing restrictions and the need for hands-on maneuvers to complete the neurological assessment. We sought to understand perceptions of neurology specialists during rapid proliferation of telemedicine services into their outpatient practices and the acceptance of this technology. Hypothesis: Neurologists may report profound challenges acclimating to the telemedicine platform, completing visits, and making clinical decisions via telemedicine. We also expected that neurology sub-specialties would differ in their attitudes. Methods: Adapted from the Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ), our 29 item questionnaire evaluated the teleneurology system in three domains: quality of the telemedicine platform, ability to conduct a sufficient neurological examination, and areas for improvement. The survey was distributed to 88 clinical Neurology faculty in the Johns Hopkins Health System. Seven-point Likert scale responses were collapsed into “Favorable”, “Neutral”, and “Unfavorable.” Within each domain, responses to individual questions were analyzed by neurology sub-specialty using descriptive statistics. Results: We received completed surveys from 46/88 (52%) neurology faculty. Of those, most reported comfort with the current platform (98%) and favorably regarded the system’s ease of use (73%) and quality (80%). However, responses indicated only average ability to troubleshoot telemedicine platform issues when they occurred (55%) and to complete a neurological exam (52%). Sub-specialty comparisons revealed differences in diagnostic confidence; only 30% of neuromuscular faculty indicated they could make accurate neurological diagnoses through a tele-exam as opposed to 84% or greater for other specialties. Conclusions: Teleneurology appears to be feasible and acceptable to a majority of academic neurologists, though diagnostic confidence may differ by sub-specialty. Improvements in technological infrastructure and care models are needed to advance telemedicine neurological care delivery.