Outpatient Clinic in Obesity Care During COVID-19 Outbreak: Physically Far, Virtually Near

Patients that referred for the first time to our bariatric center were investigated for anthropometric, psychological and instrumental data in order to evaluate the eligibility for a future bariatric procedure. In established patients, eligibility for tele-consultation was evaluated by three experienced physicians, consulting the stored patients' data. All included patients provided oral informed consent. Patients approached the virtual visit with their personal smart devices, desktop or laptop computer. Medical counselling was performed using a desktop or laptop computer from the Hospital or home in a smart working modality. The video call was carried out using Skype platform by Microsoft®; any document drawn up by the physician was saved as pdf using the Cute Professional™ PDF software, that allows to add passwords and set security options to protect the patients' data.