General surgery consultations have a crucial role in patient management. However, their role is also changing as technology becomes more prevalent. eConsult systems, for example, have grown in popularity among primary care teams in recent years.The impact of e-consult systems on patient management has been a topic of discussion.
General surgery consults are an important part of patient management. They provide a wealth of information, ranging from operative techniques to in-hospital morbidity and mortality statistics. But how well does this information match what the patient wants? A qualitative study has been conducted in three upper gastrointestinal cancer centers in the United Kingdom. The study showed that there is a mismatch between what patients want and what they get.
In particular, a majority of consultations were primarily about non-specific abdominal pain. There was little discussion of longer-term outcomes such as recovery and the impact on quality of life (QOL) afterwards. Rather, surgeons gave extensive technical and in-hospital risk information without asking whether the patient wanted to learn more.
Although there was no clear correlation between the level of detail provided by surgeons and the degree to which it matched the desired information, the most important information was the "core disclosure set of information." This is the simplest and most comprehensive set of information agreed upon between the surgeon and the patient.
eConsult systems are electronic consultation systems that allow primary care providers (PCPs) to electronically submit requests for specialist advice. They are designed to enhance care coordination and patient satisfaction by providing virtual co-management of primary and specialty care. A PCP sends a question about a specific patient to a chosen specialty. Within a week, the specialist responds.
The Ontario Patients First Act emphasizes the need to improve continuity of care and access to specialist care. The province of Ontario made the eConsult Service, which is a direct-to-specialist way for PCPs to get the help of specialists.
An initial study focused on the use of eConsult in safety-net general surgery clinics in 2014. Electronic consults were evaluated for the following items: attempted diagnosis, symptom acuity and severity, and concurrent medical conditions.