Video Clinics for Nasal Bone Injuries in COVID Times - Is it a Valid Tool for Routine Practice?

TL;DR

This study shows that video clinics are as effective as in-person visits for managing nasal bone injuries, even outside emergencies.

Contribution

Demonstrates the non-emergency viability of video clinics for nasal bone injury management during and beyond the pandemic.

Findings

No significant difference in patient numbers between video and in-person clinics.

Missed appointments and need for fracture reduction were similar in both groups.

Video clinics can be used routinely, not just in emergencies.

Abstract

Introduction
 We previously investigated the impact of video clinics on the management of closed nasal bone injuries during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of that study was to assess the feasibility of managing patients at their homes or workplaces, with instructions to attend outpatient clinics the next working day if they suspected any deviation or reduced nasal airflow, for further evaluation.

Objective
 To compare the results of our previous research with the traditional, in-person nasal injury clinics, using the same criteria as in our prior investigation.

Methods
 We analyzed 3 months of preexisting data from video clinics and collected 6 months of data from face-to-face clinics. We gathered information on the number of patients, categorized by age and gender, as well as records of missed appointments (DNAs) and the requirement for nasal manipulations. Data analysis was conducted using the Chi-Squared test in SciPy Python 3.0 (open source).

Results
 The statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between the 2 groups concerning the number of patients with closed nasal bone injuries, both under and over 18 years of age (
p
-value: 0.961), the rate of missed appointments (
p
-value: 0.0734), and the need for fracture reduction (
p
-value: 0.0734).

Conclusions
 The findings suggest that video clinics are equally effective in managing suspected nasal bone injuries and should not be restricted to emergency situations. However, it is advisable to adopt a balanced approach considering the additional costs associated with appointments.