Patient Satisfaction and Difficulties Encountered with Telemedicine During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Objective: To assess patient satisfaction with telemedicine services. To find out the difficulties encountered by patients with telemedicine. To assess whether telemedicine services can be continued in future. Study Design: Cross sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad from July 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional survey in which two hundred patients were interviewed at the end of tele-consultation according to a proforma after taking informed consent and using non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Among 200 patients, 61.5% were males and 38.5% were females and the mean age was 43.45 + 11.964 years. 73.5% patients used telemedicine for the first time and 52.0% patients used this service for consultation regarding fever and COVID-19 suspected symptoms. Among these patients, only 6.5% could not clearly hear the voice of doctor during consultation, 6.5% could not clearly see the picture of doctor on screen. 56.5% patients agreed and 42.0% strongly agreed that telemedicine saves their time, expenditure and prevents the discomfort of travelling to hospital. Most patients (60.5%) were satisfied with the telemedicine services offered. Majority of patients (81.0%) reported that they will recommend telemedicine to others and will use it even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Study concluded that overall satisfaction level of patients with telemedicine was high. Audio visual connection problems were found in a small percentage of patients. Participants were willing to use this service even after the COVID-19 pandemic and they would recommend others to use telemedicine.