Telemedicine in Cardiac Surgery: A Pilot Study

The specific aims are: 1. To compare surgeons' decisions on patient disposition between V-visits and FTF-visits (gold standard). 2. To assess the acceptability to patients and surgeons of using V-visits in the postoperative care of cardiac surgical patients; 3. To assess the technical feasibility of using community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) for delivery of postoperative cardiac surgical care; 4. To determine the recruitment rate for eligible subjects. We plan to conduct this pilot study at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC) in Houston, Texas, along with satellite CBOC facilities in Lufkin and Conroe. Once the accuracy, acceptability, and feasibility of the use of video conferencing (VC) in the postoperative care for cardiac surgical patients are established, we will submit a full proposal to conduct a two-arm RCT in future.