The Utility of Remote Video Technology in Continuing Neurosurgical Care in the COVID-19 Era: Reflections from the Past Year

-OBJECTIVE: In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed existing stressors in the neurosurgical care infrastructure in the United States. We aimed to detail innovative technologic solutions inspired by the pandemic-related restrictions that augmented neurosurgical education and care delivery. - METHODS: Several digital health and audiovisual in-novations were implemented, including use of remote video technology to facilitate inpatient consultations and outpa-tient ambulatory virtual visits, optimize regional hospital neurosurgical coverage, expand interdisciplinary patient management conferences (i.e., tumor board), and further enhance the neurosurgical resident education program. Enterprise patient experience data were queried to evaluate patient satisfaction following the switch to virtual visits. - RESULTS: Between January 2020 and April 2021, use of virtual visits more than doubled in the Department of Neurosurgery. A survey of 10,772 patients following ambu-latory visits showed that virtual visits were equal if not better in providing satisfactory patient care than in-person visits. After switching our interdisciplinary spine tumor board to a virtual meeting, we increased surgeon partici-pation and attendance by 49.29%. Integration of remote au-diovisual technology in resident didactics and clinical training improved our ability to provide comprehensive and personalized educational experiences our trainees. -CONCLUSIONS: Digital health technology has improved neurosurgical care and comprehensive training at our institution. Investment in the technologic infrastructure