Patient perspectives on telemedicine use in rheumatology during the COVID-19 pandemic: survey results from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance.
COVID-19
Qualitative
Rheumatic disease
Survey
Telemedicine
Journal
Clinical rheumatology
ISSN: 1434-9949
Titre abrégé: Clin Rheumatol
Pays: Germany
ID NLM: 8211469
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
08 Aug 2023
08 Aug 2023
Historique:
received:
06
04
2023
accepted:
22
07
2023
revised:
15
06
2023
medline:
8
8
2023
pubmed:
8
8
2023
entrez:
8
8
2023
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in rapid adoption of telemedicine in rheumatology. We described perspectives of patients with rheumatic diseases related to telemedicine use. An anonymous online survey for people with rheumatic diseases was launched in January 2021. We collected data on reasons for telemedicine use, perceived benefits, disadvantages and obstacles of telemedicine, perceived telemedicine effectiveness for different clinical tasks, level of satisfaction with telemedicine use, and future preferences for telemedicine. We summarized results with descriptive statistics and identified themes in free text responses to describe perspectives of telemedicine qualitatively. We received 596 complete responses (85% female and 47% 41-60 years old). During the COVID-19 pandemic, 78% (467/596) of respondents used telemedicine, and 61% (283/467) of telemedicine users reported that telemedicine was as effective or more effective than an in-person visit. Younger participants and those in North America reported effectiveness and satisfaction with telemedicine at higher frequencies. Participants reported similar effectiveness to in-person visits for making medication changes and discussing disease symptoms or complications. Most respondents found telemedicine at least as effective as in-person visits. Participants found telemedicine to be effective for specific scenarios, such as making medication changes and discussion of disease activity. Telemedicine may continue to be of importance in the care of patients with rheumatic diseases post pandemic, but likely for specific subsets of patients for specific visit indications. Key Points • Most patients with rheumatic disease found telemedicine as effective as in-person visits, particularly for some indications.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37552351
doi: 10.1007/s10067-023-06717-2
pii: 10.1007/s10067-023-06717-2
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR).
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