Exploring clinicians’ experiences of how efficient virtual elective knee clinics are compared to traditional face-to-face clinics

Purpose: Efficient delivery of integrated healthcare requires solid alliances and collaboration with stakeholders on a regular basis. Due to COVID-19, it has become necessary to explore new ways of delivering integrated healthcare and virtual clinics have offered one solution and are likely to continue due to the uncertainty with COVID-19. This study aims to explore clinicians’ experiences of how efficient virtual elective knee clinics are in an orthopaedic setting in comparison to traditional face-to-face clinics. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilised a mixed methods study to obtain qualitative and quantitative data. This involved an anonymous online survey in addition to in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with a purposive sample of multidisciplinary colleagues who work with the virtual elective knee clinics in an acute hospital. Findings: Three overarching themes and nine sub-themes emerged in the qualitative analysis. Overall, clinicians in both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study highlighted several ways that virtual clinics are efficient from both the patient and health service perspective. However, participants also highlighted barriers in relation to virtual clinics not being suitable for certain cohorts of patients and pathologies. Originality/value:This is the first study in Ireland to provide valuable insights into the experiences of multidisciplinary clinicians using virtual elective knee clinics and their efficiency compared to traditional face to face clinics. Keywords: Efficient, Virtual Clinics, Orthopaedics, Knee, Elective Clinic, Face-to-Face, COVID-19 Please note this research has been published in the Journal of Integrated Care in 2023.