Patient satisfaction and acceptability with telehealth at specialist medical outpatient clinics during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia

Abstract

Background: Outpatient clinics were shifted rapidly to telehealth in Australia during the Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, drastically altering patient care and experience.Aims: To investigate patient satisfaction and acceptability of telehealth consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Prospective observation study conducted in two hospital rheumatology outpatient departments (OPD) undertaking telehealth consultations during COVID-19. A modified version of a validated telehealth evaluation survey was posted to all patients attending the telehealth OPD rheumatology clinics, including balanced 5-point Likert scales and free-text responses. Cluster analysis was applied to the Likert-scale questions, alongside thematic analysis of free-text responses.Results: There were 128 respondents (29% response rate), of which 69.5% were women and the majority (87.5%) was aged 50 years or older. All telehealth consultations were conducted by telephone. Nearly one-fifth of patients indicated consistent dissatisfaction with telehealth across the range of questions. These patients were older, reported lower educational qualifications and lower health literacy scores and lacked access to the Internet. While many patients found this mode of consultation to be convenient, patients expressed concerns regarding absence of physical examination. A recurrent theme was a desire for a mixed-model clinic in the future, with flexibility of having both telehealth and face-to-face consultations.Conclusions: This study offers unique insights into patients' experiences with telehealth, which until the current global pandemic, has been an uncommon mode of consultation delivery in urban areas. This study suggests when defining the place of telehealth in future healthcare delivery, patient perspective and careful patient selection will be key. Disease progression, language and cognitive ability, health literacy, technology access and patient and clinician preference are important considerations when deciding how effectively to embed and integrate telehealth into consultations.

Mental Health Literacy Scale Arabic Version: A Validation Study Among Saudi University Students

“…This finding may imply that university students who were single, studying in the Colleges of Nursing and Medicine, and registered in their second year (Level 4) at university had increased levels of MHL. This result was inconsistent with those of Salem et al ( 36 ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia who found no meaningful relationship between the level of health literacy and the education level of their participants. However, Dias et al ( 26 ) confirmed that socio-demographic variables such as gender and proximity to persons presenting with mental disorders were associated with a variation in MHL scores.…”

“…The literature shows that health literacy studies are limited among female population in Saudi Arabia ( 36 ). O'Connor et al ( 37 ) indicated there are substantial limitations in measuring MHL and emphasized the need to evaluate the psychometric robustness of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS).…”

Patients’ Perceptions and Satisfaction with the Outpatient Telemedicine Clinics during COVID-19 Era in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Other factors responsible for high-level satisfaction in the KSA are the high level of literacy (95.3%) and coverage proportion (90%) of advanced internet in the KSA. The research communities revealed the same high-level satisfaction in other economically developed countries [ 17 , 30 ]. However, the developing and underdeveloped countries’ scenarios could be different due to low literacy rates, poor economies, poor network coverage, unreliable electric power, and restricted resources to implement new technologies [ 31 , 32 , 33 ].This study aimed to identify the factors associated with poor and average satisfaction towards outpatient telemedicine clinics through binomial logistic regression.…”

The worldwide impact of telemedicine during COVID-19: current evidence and recommendations for the future

“…In an online survey of 683 surgeons [83] , 38% of respondents felt that the quality of care was equivalent to face-toface consultations -with particularly the inability to perform a clinical examination a concern, and expressing that telehealth was an inappropriate means to break bad news [83] . In another survey, the clinician respondents felt that using telehealth services had been a "forced adoption" with many using telehealth for the first time [84] . Based on the responses, the authors concluded that, despite several positives, "it could be that once the pandemic passes, previous policies and practises will re-assert themselves" [84] .…”

“…In another survey, the clinician respondents felt that using telehealth services had been a "forced adoption" with many using telehealth for the first time [84] . Based on the responses, the authors concluded that, despite several positives, "it could be that once the pandemic passes, previous policies and practises will re-assert themselves" [84] . It is, however, often the acceptability of telehealth to patients that is the cornerstone on whether this mode of care has longevity.…”