Patients’ Satisfaction on Virtual Clinic in Primary Health Care Centers in Prince Sultan Military Medical City, 2020-2021: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Settings and background: With technology evolvement and COVID-19 Pandemic Virtual clinics are increasing nowadays, there is no single qualitative study in Saudi Arabia that make us knows patients' opinion about this service, and this is what our study is about. Methods: It is a semi-structured phone interview of 36 participants who attended the virtual clinic in Prince Sultan Military Hospital in 2020, selected purposefully, then the interviews were transcribed then analyzed by thematic analysis. Results: 20 of the participants were males (55.5%) and 16 of them were females (44.4%), 6 were above or equal to 60 years of age (16.6%) and 30 participants were below 60 years of age (83.3%). In Theme 1: (Were the steps taken in the referral process to this service clear?) 75% (n=27) of them answered positively, 22.2% (n=8) answered negatively and one participant was neutral. In Theme 2: (Comparing to previous regular clinic visits, how did you find receiving information about your health in this clinic?) 27.7% (n=10) think it is better than regular clinic, However, 19.4% (n=6) think it is worse than the regular clinic, and the majority 55.5% (n=20) think they are the same. In Theme 3: was (Describe for us your experience in getting the medications form the pharmacy after the clinic) 77.7% (n=28) of participants were satisfied and 2 patients were not satisfied, remaining 6 did not take medicines. Conclusions: Virtual clinic is a good method in reducing costs and time in delivering health care, in patients' opinions. In general, virtual clinic had high satisfaction rate among who benefit from the service. However, there are some concerns need to be addressed like referral or booking process for virtual clinic services.

Performances and Activities of Virtual Pediatrics Medication Counselling Clinic in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia

“…The total number of patients visiting tremendously increased from the first to the second year, which transferred from physician and ambulatory care pharmacy to the clinic, higher than in the previous study. [8] That was not documented before to demonstrate the high demand of the clinic because they were facing a high number of patients not aware of their medication and a high need for basic information about their medication. Thus, over time, there were more transfers from outpatient pharmacies than physician's clinic transfers in the second year.…”

“…During the previous coronavirus pandemic in 2020, healthcare providers changed regular patient care to telemedicine and virtual patient care. [8] That is to reduce direct contact with the patients and prevent infection from disseminating throughout society. Various publications should show that healthcare professionals provide patient care through telemedicine and virtually and excellent subsequent patient outcomes and satisfaction.…”

“…Various publications should show that healthcare professionals provide patient care through telemedicine and virtually and excellent subsequent patient outcomes and satisfaction. [8] The pharmaceutical care provider also switched several services to virtual procedures to care for the patient. [9][10][11][12][13][14] Some clinical pharmacy services become virtual through telepharmacy.…”

“…[13,15] Several researchers illustrated the virtual clinics operated by physicians and pharmacists during the coronavirus crisis. [8][9][10][11]13,15,16] The virtual pharmacy clinic has advantages, such as more convenience and patient satisfaction. [8] Besides, there is a more significant coverage number of patients.…”

“…[8][9][10][11]13,15,16] The virtual pharmacy clinic has advantages, such as more convenience and patient satisfaction. [8] Besides, there is a more significant coverage number of patients. Therefore, the virtual pharmacy clinic continued after the pandemic, such as the pharmacy clinic for patient medication counseling.…”