Dataset Information

Surgery Provider Perceptions on Telehealth Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Room for Improvement.

ABSTRACT:

Background

COVID-19 has mandated rapid adoption of telehealth for surgical care. However, many surgical providers may be unfamiliar with telehealth. This study evaluates the perspectives of surgical providers practicing telehealth care during COVID-19 to help identify targets for surgical telehealth optimization.

Materials and methods

At a single tertiary care center with telehealth capabilities, all department of surgery providers (attending surgeons, residents, fellows, and advanced practice providers) were emailed a voluntary survey focused on telehealth during the pandemic. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U analyses were performed as appropriate on responses. Text responses were thematically coded to identify key concepts.

Results

The completion rate was 41.3% (145/351). Providers reported increased telehealth usage relative to the pandemic (P < 0.001). Of respondents, 80% (116/145) had no formal telehealth training. Providers estimated that new patient video visits required less time than traditional visits (P = 0.001). Satisfaction was high for several aspects of video visits. Comparatively lower satisfaction scores were reported for the ability to perform physical exams (sensitive and nonsensitive) and to break bad news. The largest barriers to effective video visits were limited physical exams (55.6%; 45/81) and lack of provider or patient internet access/equipment/connection (34.6%; 28/81). Other barriers included ineffective communication and difficulty with fostering rapport. Concerns regarding video-to-telephone visit conversion were loss of physical exam/visual cues (34.3%; 24/70), less personal interactions (18.6%; 13/70), and reduced efficiency (18.6%; 13/70).

Conclusions

Telehealth remains a new experience for surgical providers despite its expansion. Optimization strategies should target technology barriers and include specialized virtual exam and communication training.

SUBMITTER: Kemp MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7664345 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Surgery Provider Perceptions on Telehealth Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Room for Improvement.

Kemp Michael T MT Liesman Daniel R DR Williams Aaron M AM Brown Craig S CS Iancu Ariella M AM Wakam Glenn K GK Biesterveld Ben E BE Alam Hasan B HB

The Journal of surgical research 20201113

<h4>Background</h4>COVID-19 has mandated rapid adoption of telehealth for surgical care. However, many surgical providers may be unfamiliar with telehealth. This study evaluates the perspectives of surgical providers practicing telehealth care during COVID-19 to help identify targets for surgical telehealth optimization.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>At a single tertiary care center with telehealth capabilities, all department of surgery providers (attending surgeons, residents, fellows, and adva ...[more]

PMID: 33360755

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding perceptions of telehealth implementation from patients and providers can improve the utility and sustainability of these programs, particularly in under-resourced rural settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate both patient and provider perceptions of telehealth visits in a large rural healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. To promote sustainability of telehealth approaches, we also assessed whether the percentage of missed appointments differed between in-person and telehealth visits.MethodsUsing anonymous surveys, we evaluated patient preferences and satisfaction with telehealth visits from November 2020 -March 2021 and assessed perceptions of telehealth efficiency and value among rural providers from September-October 2020. We examined whether telehealth perceptions differed according to patients' age, educational attainment, insurance status, and distance to clinical site and providers' age and length of time practicing medicine using ANOVA test. We also examined whether the percentage of missed appointments differed between in-person and telehealth visits at a family practice clinic within the rural healthcare system from April to September 2020 using a Chi-square test.ResultsOver 73% of rural patients had favorable perceptions of telehealth visits, and satisfaction was generally higher among younger patients. Patients reported difficulty with scheduling follow-up appointments, lack of personal contact and technology challenges as common barriers. Over 80% of the 219 providers responding to the survey reported that telehealth added value to their practice, while 36.6% agreed that telehealth visits are more efficient than in-person visits. Perception of telehealth value and efficiency did not differ by provider age (p = 0.67 and p = 0.67, respectively) or time in practice (p = 0.53 and p = 0.44, respectively). Technology challenges for the patient (91.3%) and provider (45.1%) were commonly reported. The percentage of missed appointments was slightly higher for telehealth visits compared to in-person visits, but the difference was not statistically significant (8.7% vs. 8.0%; p = 0.39).ConclusionsTelehealth perceptions were generally favorable among rural patients and providers, although satisfaction was lower among older patients and providers. Our findings suggest that telehealth approaches may add value and efficiency to rural clinical practice. However, technology issues for both patients and providers and gaps in care coordination need to be addressed to promote sustainability of telehealth approaches in rural practice.

Project description:ImportanceTelehealth has emerged as a means of improving access and reducing cost for medical oncology care; however, use by specialists prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic still remained low. Medical oncology professionals' perceptions of telehealth for cancer care are largely unknown, but are critical to telehealth utilization and expansion efforts.ObjectiveTo identify medical oncology health professionals' perceptions of the barriers to and benefits of telehealth video visits.Design, setting, and participantsThis qualitative study used interviews conducted from October 30, 2019, to March 5, 2020, of medical oncology health professionals at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, an urban academic health system in the US with a cancer center. All medical oncology physicians, physicians assistants, and nurse practitioners at the hospital were eligible to participate. A combination of volunteer and convenience sampling was used, resulting in the participation of 29 medical oncology health professionals, including 20 physicians and 9 advanced practice professionals, in semistructured interviews.Main outcomes and measuresMedical oncology health professionals' perceptions of barriers to and benefits of telehealth video visits as experienced by patients receiving cancer treatment.ResultsOf the 29 participants, 15 (52%) were women and 22 (76%) were White, with a mean (SD) age of 48.5 (12.0) years. Respondents' perceptions were organized using the 4 domains of the National Quality Forum framework: clinical effectiveness, patient experience, access to care, and financial impact. Respondents disagreed on the clinical effectiveness and potential limitations of the virtual physical examination, as well as on the financial impact on patients. Respondents also largely recognized the convenience and improved access to care enabled by telehealth for patients. However, many reported concern regarding the health professional-patient relationship and their limited ability to comfort patients in a virtual setting.Conclusions and relevanceMedical oncology health professionals shared conflicting opinions regarding the barriers to and benefits of telehealth in regard to clinical effectiveness, patient experience, access to care, and financial impact. Understanding oncologists' perceptions of telehealth elucidates potential barriers that need to be further investigated or improved for telehealth expansion and continued utilization; further research is ongoing to assess current perceptions of health professionals and patients given the rapid expansion of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project description:BackgroundSince the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has been widely adopted in outpatient settings in the United States. Although telehealth visits are publicly accepted in different settings, little is known about the situation after the wide adoption of telehealth from the perspectives of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and their providers.ObjectiveThis study aims to identify barriers and facilitators of maintaining continuity of care using telehealth for patients with T2D in a diabetes specialty clinic.MethodsAs the second phase of a multimethod study to understand missed appointments among adults with T2D, we conducted semistructured, individual, in-depth phone or Zoom interviews with 23 adults with T2D (14/23, 61% women; mean age 55.1, SD 14.4, range 35-77 years) and 10 providers from diabetes clinics in a tertiary academic medical center in Maryland. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic content analysis by the research team.ResultsAdults with T2D and their providers generally reported positive experiences with telehealth visits for diabetes care with some technical challenges resulting in the need for in-person visits. We identified the following 3 themes: (1) "perceived benefits of telehealth visits," such as convenience, time and financial efficiencies, and independence from caregivers, benefits shared by both patients and providers; (2) "perceived technological challenges of telehealth visits," such as disparities in digital health literacy, frustration caused by unstable internet connection, and difficulty sharing glucose data, challenges shared by both patients and providers; and (3) "impact of telehealth visits on the quality of diabetes care," including lack of diabetes quality measures and needs and preferences for in-person visits, shared mainly from providers' perspectives with some patient input.ConclusionsTelehealth is generally received positively in diabetes care with some persistent challenges that might compromise the quality of diabetes care. Telehealth technology and glucose data platforms must incorporate user experience and user-centered design to optimize telehealth use in diabetes care. Clinical practices need to consider new workflows for telehealth visits to facilitate easier follow-up scheduling and lab completion. Future research to investigate the ideal balance between in-person and telehealth visits in diabetes care is warranted to enhance the quality of diabetes care and to optimize diabetes outcomes. Policy flexibilities should also be considered to broaden access to diabetes care for all patients with T2D.

Dataset Information

Surgery Provider Perceptions on Telehealth Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Room for Improvement.

Background

Materials and methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Surgery Provider Perceptions on Telehealth Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Room for Improvement.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets