Ideas That Work: Automated Follow-Up Care

Practical pearls from your colleagues

WVU Medicine has created an online platform that allows patients and surgeons to communicate with each other online after low-risk procedures as a part of their follow-up care. “We developed a standard, automated questionnaire with all the information that would be asked in a traditional office visit,” says Shafic Sraj, MD, a hand, elbow and shoulder surgeon. “It allows patients to provide detailed and meaningful responses and photos so that I can assess how they are healing.”

The questionnaire was created by Lauren Latsnic, coordinator of telemedicine at WVU Medicine. The asynchronous two-way communication takes place in the secure online patient portal MyWVUChart. The de facto virtual postoperative appointment is perfect for patients who undergo office-based procedures such as carpal tunnel release, removal of ganglion cysts or other masses, and the release of tendinitis. Dr. Sraj says the feature is more convenient than an in-person post-op session and is even better than a virtual visit. “Instead of getting a telemedicine appointment and waiting to see me on their device, they just respond to the automated questionnaire, attach a photo of the incision and send it away,” he explains. “Switching to asynchronous visits has been a huge success and helped many patients avoid the burden of spending hours on the road for simple wound checks.” OSM