Comparison of Transplant Pharmacist Treatment Decisions Between Telehealth and Clinic Visits

Abstract

Introduction: Implementation of telehealth in high-risk patient populations provides opportunities for continuous interactions and has previously been shown to positively impact practice. However, there is a paucity of studies focused on telehealth in the liver transplant population specific to pharmacist care. Project Aim: Describe the importance of transplant pharmacist treatment decisions between telehealth, in-clinic, and asynchronous (eg chart review and electronic message support) visit types. Design: This was a single-center comparative evaluation of adult liver transplant recipients transplanted between May 1, 2020 and October 31, 2020 with a transplant pharmacist visit between May 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020. The primary outcome was the average number of treatment decisions per encounter and the average number of important treatment decisions per encounter. The importance of these treatment decisions was determined by a panel of three clinicians. Results: Twenty-eight patients met the inclusion criteria with 85 in-clinic, 42 telehealth, and 55 asynchronous visits. For all treatment decisions, there was no statistical difference in average number of treatment decisions per encounter between telehealth visits and in-clinic visits with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.822 (95% CI, 0.674–1.000; P = 0.051). Similarly, for important treatment decisions, there was no statistical difference between telehealth visits and in-clinic visits (OR 0.847; 95% CI, 0.642–1.116; P = 0.238). Conclusion: Transplant pharmacists can deliver recommendations with similar importance via telehealth compared to in-clinic visits based on the number of total and important treatment decisions.