Telehealth use in Australian primary healthcare during COVID-19: a cross-sectional descriptive survey

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate Australian primary healthcare professionals’ experiences of the rapid upscaling of telehealth during COVID-19.DesignA cross-sectional survey.Participants and settingTwo hundred and seventeen general practitioners, nurses and allied health professionals employed in primary healthcare settings across Australia were recruited via social media and professional organisations.MethodsAn online survey was disseminated between December 2020 and March 2021. The survey comprised items about individual demographics, experiences of delivering telehealth consultations, perceived quality of telehealth consultations and future perceptions of telehealth.ResultsTelephone was the most widely used method of providing telehealth, with less than 50% of participants using a combination of telephone and video. Key barriers to telehealth use related to the inability to undertake physical examination or physical intervention. Telehealth was perceived to improve access to healthcare for some vulnerable groups and those living in rural settings, but reduced access for people from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Quality of telehealth care was considered mostly or somewhat the same as care provided face-to-face, with actual or perceived negative outcomes related to missed or delayed diagnosis. Overwhelmingly, participants wanted telehealth to continue with guaranteed ongoing funding. Some 43.7% of participants identified the need to further improve telehealth models of care.ConclusionThe rapid shift to telehealth has facilitated ongoing care during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, further work is required to better understand how telehealth can be best harnessed to add value to service delivery in usual care.

Remote and technology‐mediated working during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A qualitative exploration of the experiences of nurses working in general practice (the GenCo Study)

“…Our findings indicate that there was a limited benefit to video consultations compared to telephone consultations. This has been reported previously relating to general practitioners, nurses working in general practice and other clinicians (Desborough et al., 2022; Greenhalgh et al., 2022; Halcomb et al., 2023; Murphy et al., 2021). Confidence and training in remote and digital technologies, provision of technological equipment, reason for consultation and complexity of patient needs were all reported as underlying reasons for the preponderance of telephone consultations internationally (James et al., 2021; Greenhalgh et al., 2022; Halcomb et al., 2023; Li et al., 2022; Wanat et al., 2021).…”

“…Our findings indicate that there was a limited benefit to video consultations compared to telephone consultations. This has been reported previously relating to general practitioners, nurses working in general practice and other clinicians (Desborough et al, 2022;Greenhalgh et al, 2022;Halcomb et al, 2023;Murphy et al, 2021).…”

“…COVID-19 pandemic, general practice, general practice nursing, nursing, PERCS framework, primary care, qualitative, remote consultations, telephone consultations, video consultations availability and implementation of various technology solutions, in general practice and wider primary care, telephone consultations were the most commonly used form of remote consultation (Greenhalgh et al, 2021;Halcomb et al, 2023;Hardie et al, 2022;Murphy et al, 2021). While risks to patient safety associated with concerns about not seeing patients in-person have been identified (Ashley et al, 2022;Hardie et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022).…”

“…The rate to which technology‐mediated and remote working were introduced into clinical practice during the COVID‐19 pandemic was unprecedented. It is therefore crucial to explore how remote and technology‐mediated care can add most value moving forward (Halcomb et al., 2023), by drawing on the experiences of nurses in delivering remote and technology‐mediated working during consecutive waves of the COVID‐19 pandemic.…”

“…However, while it was considered that the COVID‐19 pandemic would provide a catalyst for the development of such new ways of working, the lasting effects of remote and technology working that were initially anticipated have not been fully realized or sustained (Greenhalgh et al., 2022). For example, despite the availability and implementation of various technology solutions, in general practice and wider primary care, telephone consultations were the most commonly used form of remote consultation (Greenhalgh et al., 2021; Halcomb et al., 2023; Hardie et al., 2022; Murphy et al., 2021). While risks to patient safety associated with concerns about not seeing patients in‐person have been identified (Ashley et al., 2022; Hardie et al., 2022; Li et al., 2022).…”