• Jordan C Xu, Sam A Haider, Akshay Sharma, Kenneth Blumenfeld, Joseph Cheng, Catherine A Mazzola, Katie O Orrico, Joshua Rosenow, Jason Stacy, Ann Stroink, Krystal Tomei, Luis M Tumialán, Anand Veeravagu, Mark E Linskey, and Jason Schwalb.
• Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Irvine Medical Center, Orange, California, USA. Electronic address: jcxu@hs.uci.edu.
• World Neurosurg. 2022 Dec 1; 168: e328e335e328-e335.

ObjectiveTelehealth was rapidly adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was distributed to neurosurgeons in the United States (U.S.) to understand its use within neurosurgery, what barriers exist, unique issues related to neurosurgery, and opportunities for improvement.MethodsA survey was distributed via email and used the SurveyMonkey platform. The survey was sent to 3828 practicing neurosurgeons within the U.S., 404 responses were collected between October 30, 2021 and December 4, 2021.ResultsDuring the pandemic, telehealth was used multiple times per week by 60.65% and used daily by an additional 12.78% of respondents. A supermajority (89.84%) of respondents felt that evaluating patients across state lines with telemedicine is beneficial. Most respondents (95.81%) believed that telehealth improves patient access to care. The major criticism of telehealth was the inability to perform a neurological exam.ConclusionsTelehealth has been widely implemented within the field of neurosurgery during the COVID-19 pandemic and has increased access to care. It has allowed patients to be evaluated remotely, including across state lines. While certain aspects of the neurological exam are suited for video evaluation, sensation and reflexes cannot be adequately assessed. Neurosurgeons believe that telehealth adds value to their ability to deliver care.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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