Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jun 5, 2018
Date Accepted: Jun 12, 2019
The value of mobile phone videos in increasing the diagnosis accuracy and saving cost of consultation for infant paroxysmal events: a prospective study in China
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To investigate the role of mobile phone videos in the diagnosis of paroxysmal events in infancy and the factors that will influence correct diagnosis and then to analyze the cost savings for patients with the videos of paroxysmal events for online consultation. Method: Clinical data of 12 patients with paroxysmal events were collected for the research. A questionnaire was designed to simulate patients' first visit in outpatient clinic. The investigation was conducted in 6 centers during the pediatric academic conferences. All 452 practitioners present were asked to make a diagnosis by the description of the event from the caregivers, and then they would watch a mobile video of the paroxysmal events and make the diagnoses again. The doctor’s background information including education background, profession, working years, and working hospital level would also be recorded. The costs saved from accurate diagnosis without further need of examination when choosing online consultation were measured.
Results:
A total of 452 questionnaires were collected in this study, 301 of which met the criteria (66.6%) and were included in the study. The mean amount of correct diagnosis with and without videos was 8.4 and 7.2, respectively. For epileptic seizure, mobile phone videos increased the mean rate of correct diagnosis by 3.9%; for non-epileptic events, the rate increased by 11.5%, and both were statistically different. Pediatric neurologists with longer working years obtained significantly higher correct identification rates, while their working hospital level and education background made no difference. For children patients with paroxysmal events, if they choose online consultation for their first visit, at least 1.28×〖10〗^8 dollars (8.22×〖10〗^8yuan) can be saved per year and at least 12.02% of the total cost for correct diagnosis can be saved. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the importance and usefulness for mobile phone videos in clinic, and it will largely help clinicians complete the diagnosis, especially for the non-epileptic events in infants. For patients on their first visit, pediatric neurologists with longer working years are recommended. Online consultation is a better choice for all patients with paroxysmal events and for non-epileptic patients, the underlying saving can be more.
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