Consulta Não Presencial no Serviço Nacional de Saúde Português Durante a Pandemia de COVID-19: Estudo da Opinião dos Médicos e Implicações para o Futuro

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the reorganization of healthcare services and teleconsultation emerged as a solution to facilitate patient appointments. The aim of this study was to characterize, from a physician perspective, the teleconsultations carried out in the Portuguese National Health Service (SNS) during the first phase of the pandemic and to identify factors that influence the experience of the teleconsultation.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted based on an online survey, between July-September 2020, aimed at SNS doctors. Data on demographics, practice, attitudes and perceptions associated with the teleconsultation was collected. The adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) was calculated to identify demographic factors and determinants of teleconsultation associated with satisfaction, use of video calls and greater motivation to carry out teleconsultations in the future.Results: 2225 valid responses were obtained. Teleconsultation was carried out by 93.8% of participants in this period, 99.0% used the telephone as a form of communication and only 8.0% used a video call. A high degree of satisfaction with the teleconsultation was significantly associated with perceiving the teleconsultation as providing care with equivalent quality to a face-to-face consultation (aPR = 1.472) and being motivated to do teleconsultation after the pandemic (aPR = 4.081). Reporting clinical (aPR = 0.763) or technical difficulties (aPR = 0.666) was negatively associated with satisfaction). 70.4% of doctors would like to continue doing follow-up teleconsultations and 53.3% consider that video call technologies should always or often be used during teleconsultations.Conclusion: Teleconsultation seems to have potential to to become a common practice in the future. However, it is important to address clinical, technical, organizational, and legal questions and, above all, to ensure that it is a safe and valuable practice for patients.

Implementation of policy and management interventions to improve health and care workforce capacity to address the COVID-19 pandemic response: a systematic review

“…Thus, around 7.2% of doctors who worked in the National Health System responded to the questionnaire. 50% refer that they are globally satis ed or very satis ed with teleconsultation, 16% are dissatis ed or very dissatis ed and 35% are indifferent [29] Low DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS…”

Um Desfecho Infeliz de um Diagnóstico Evitável: Caso Clínico

“…4,5 Por outro lado, a pandemia COVID-19 impediu e atrasou o diagnóstico de inúmeras patologias, incluindo do VIH, tendo imposto uma reorganização dos serviços de saúde e dificultando o acesso aos cuidados de saúde primários por causa da redução do número de consultas presenciais. 6…”

perception of clinical professionals on the use of telemedicine by videoconference in the Portuguese private health system

“…A Associação Portuguesa de Telemedicina (APT) aplicou um inquérito por questionário online a médicos do SNS que utilizaram telemedicina durante o confinamento devido à Covid-19. Verificou-se que o formato de consulta remota mais utilizado pelos inquiridos foi a consulta telefónica, mas mais de metade dos inquiridos respondeu que a manutenção da telemedicina no futuro depende da implementação do suporte vídeo (O'Neill & Matias, 2021). Outros estudos efetuados com recursos a entrevistas e inquéritos aplicados a médicos e pacientes, referem ainda a importância da imagem para a leitura de sinais não verbais de comunicação (e.g., Robinson et al, 2015;Feijt et al, 2020).…”