Patient preferences using telehealth during the COVID‐19 pandemic in four Victorian tertiary hospital services.
Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has had a major impact on healthcare services with many changes to telehealth care delivery. More information is needed about the patient perspective of telehealth in hospital services and the potential costs and benefits for patients. Aim...
| Published in: | Internal Medicine Journal Vol. 52; no. 5; pp. 763 - 770 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
May2022
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=156785298&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 156785298 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 14440903 HYC jtl: Internal Medicine Journal issn: 14440903 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2022 vid: 52 iid: 5 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 156785298 156147289 156785298 156785298 10.1111/imj.15726 156785298 ppf: 763 ppct: 7 formats: tig: atl: Patient preferences using telehealth during the COVID‐19 pandemic in four Victorian tertiary hospital services. aug: au: Rasmussen, Bodil Perry, Rachel Hickey, Martha Hua, Xinyang Wong, Zee Wan Guy, Lauren Hitch, Danielle Hiscock, Harriet Dalziel, Kim Winter, Naomi Maier, Andrea B. affil: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong Victoria,, Australia sug: subj: Patient Preference Telehealth Utilization COVID-19 Pandemic Tertiary Health Care Victoria Victoria Telemedicine Quality of Health Care Health Care Delivery Patient Attitudes Cost Benefit Analysis Inpatients Cross Sectional Studies Surveys Computer Terminals Human Male Female Adult Middle Age Health Services Accessibility Referral and Consultation Rural Areas Socioeconomic Factors Data Analysis Software Descriptive Statistics Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has had a major impact on healthcare services with many changes to telehealth care delivery. More information is needed about the patient perspective of telehealth in hospital services and the potential costs and benefits for patients. Aim: To measure patients' evaluation of telehealth, preferences for telehealth versus in‐person appointments, and potential cost savings by patient characteristics. Methods: A cross‐sectional online survey (including patient and appointment characteristics, telehealth evaluation, preferences for care and costs) of adult patients using video telehealth in four metropolitan tertiary hospital services in Melbourne, Victoria. Results: A total of 1045 patients (median age 44 years; interquartile range 29–59) participated with an overall response rate of 9.2%. For 98.7% patients, telehealth was convenient, 96.4% stated that it saved time, 95.9% found telehealth acceptable to receive care and 97.0% found that telehealth improved their access to care. Most (62.6%) preferred in‐person consultations, although 86.9% agreed that telehealth was equivalent to an in‐person consultation. Those in regional and rural areas were less likely to prefer in‐person consultations. Patients attending for medical reasons were less likely to prefer in‐person consultation compared with patients with surgical reasons. Patient preference to telehealth was independent of level of education, appointment type, self‐rated health status and socio economic status. Patients saved an average of A$120.9 (standard deviation A$93.0) per appointment, with greater cost savings for patients from low and middle socio economic areas and regional or rural areas. Conclusion: Telehealth video consultations were largely evaluated positively with most patients considering the service to be as good as in‐person. Understanding patient preference is critical to consider when implementing telehealth as mainstream across hospital health services. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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