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Injections intravitréennes durant la COVID-19: mesures de protection, enquête de satisfaction concernant le temps passé à l'hôpital et la qualité des soins

:  To assess patient satisfaction regarding the sudden reorganization of care during the COVID-19 pandemic in the outpatient intravitreal injection (IVI) clinic.

A survey of patients with ongoing IVIs for retinal diseases was carried out between April 23rd and May 12th, 2020. We designed a questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction concerning: personal protective equipment (PPE), social distancing, the perceived quality of care, and the total time spent in the department, using a Likert scale. We also collected the time spent per patients in the outpatient IVI clinic.

A hundred and twenty-seven eyes of 108 patients were included. The mean time spent in the IVI outpatient clinic was 31.87 +/- 16.61 minutes. In our survey, 99.1% of the patients were satisfied (highly satisfied or satisfied) with the new type of care provided, 89.8% with the duration of care, and 93.5% with the PPE. Satisfaction was associated with total time spent in hospital (p=0.005), with dissatisfied patients spending about 50% more time in the hospital than satisfied patients (43.91 minutes versus 30.50 minutes).

In this cross-sectional study, we reported satisfaction in patients undergoing intravitreal injections during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a questionnaire, in regards to PPE, the total duration of care, and perceived quality of care.Two major aspects of reorganization due to the outbreak focused on PPE and social distancing measures and on reducing the total time spent in the hospital, to reduce the risk of contamination. Patients were summoned every 15 minutes (instead of the usual 7 minutes), patients were asked to come alone if possible and the waiting room was rearranged to respect social distancing measures.The duration of care during COVID-19 outbreak was significantly lower than the baseline in 2017 (p<0.001, Mann Whitney test).

Despite the crisis-related adjustment, our survey revealed high patient satisfaction with PPE, quality of care, and total time spent in outpatient IVI clinic.