Introduction: The health authorities have recommended that face-to-face consultations be substituted by telephone consultations to reduce the risk of virus transmission in out-patient clinics during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of the present study was to assess the frequency of such telephone consultations and families' evaluations of them in a paediatric outpatient clinic during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Methods: During the period from 16 March to 23 April 2020, telephone consultations substituting face-to-face consultations in children and adolescents from 0 to 19 years of age were prospectively recorded. In subsequent telephone interviews, families were asked about their views on the telephone consultation.
Results: During the observation period, the clinic had 499 scheduled face-to-face appointments and 112 (22.4%) substitute telephone consultations. A total of 103 families participated in a telephone interview representing 87 (84.5%) children with atopic diseases and 16 (15.5%) with other conditions. A total of 100 (97.0%) of the families agreed or strongly agreed that they felt good about being offered a substitute telephone consultation; 14 (13.6%) said that a telephone consultation was not the best option, whereas 89 (80.4%) would not have preferred a face-to-face consultation; 98 (95.1%) felt that the telephone consultation was useful to them.
Conclusions: A minority of planned face-to-face consultations was substituted by telephone consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Families were satisfied with substitute telephone consultations.
Funding: none.
Trial registration: not relevant.
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