Patient satisfaction with telediabetes education in Hong Kong

Abstract

Forty-one patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus were selected to receive diabetes education at a local health centre via low-cost videoconferencing equipment. The educational material was transmitted from the diabetic centre of a district hospital. Four educational sessions were carried out over 4.5 months. Satisfaction was measured using a self-administered questionnaire on the completion of the programme. Of the 41 subjects who participated in the study, 36 (88%) completed the questionnaire. Patients reported a high level of satisfaction with most aspects of the education process. The mean total score on the questionnaire was 61.9 (SD 9.4); the highest possible total score was 75. There was a significant positive correlation between age and satisfaction level (r=0.39). The results showed that diabetes education conducted via telemedicine was highly acceptable to diabetic patients.

The Contribution of Teleconsultation and Videoconferencing to Diabetes Care: A Systematic Literature Review

“…As can be seen, 22 interventions addressed teleconsultation [13-34], 13 addressed videoconferencing [35-47], and 4 addressed videoconferencing combined with teleconsultation [48-51]. The most frequently used methodological approach was observational (case series or before-after design), which was used in 19 studies; 11 studies were RCTs, and 6 were quasi-experimental.…”

“…Sample sizes included ≤ 20 (n = 9), ≤ 100 (n = 17), > 100 (n = 12), and one was not specified. Participants were selected by the research team [31,33,36,47,49,50], general practitioner [17,30,35,47], a specialist [15,17,22,24], or via convenience sampling [32,40]. …”

“…Validated questionnaires were used in 12 of the 39 studies to measure usability of technology, quality of life, and self-care. The Telemedicine Satisfaction Questionnaire [14,25,41,47] was used for measuring usability of technology. Quality of life was measured with various questionnaires: the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF [14], SF-12 [17,25,30], SF-36 [36,38,41,44,48,49], Diabetes Quality of Life [25,30,36,41,44], Depression Scale CES-D [30], Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale [41], and the Visual Analog Scale [26].…”

“…Interventions took place in secondary care settings [36,37,40,42,43,45,46] and in primary care [35,38,39,41,44,47,48,49,50,51]. Combined interventions [48-51] were all used in primary care settings, often in underserved or remote areas, to allow videoconferencing to supplement teleconsultation by enabling direct interaction between patient and caregiver(s) [49,50].…”

“…Combined interventions [48-51] were all used in primary care settings, often in underserved or remote areas, to allow videoconferencing to supplement teleconsultation by enabling direct interaction between patient and caregiver(s) [49,50]. Videoconferencing involved real-time contact between the patient at home [37,38,39,40,44,45] or in a local clinic or center [35,36,41,42,43,46,47] and a caregiver in the hospital or diabetes center via video equipment. In 11 cases, patients had contact with one caregiver, while in six cases a team of various caregivers interacted with patients.…”