Telemedicine in clinical gastroenterology practice: what do patients prefer?

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic has forced major changes on healthcare systems. Maintaining regular patients’ surveillance became a major challenge. Telemedicine has been promoted as an economic and effective way for long distance patient care. Our aim was to study patients’ acceptance and perspectives on telemedicine. Methods: Patients scheduled for clinic appointments were offered telemedicine. Those who agreed were asked to fill in a questionnaire assessing their satisfaction with the medical consultation. Patients’ demographic characteristics and answers were collected and reviewed. Results: Out of 358 patients approached 71 agreed to use telemedicine. Of them, 59 completed the questionnaire and were included in the study. All patients’ basic demographic data were collected. Patients’ included in the study mean age was: 43 ± 16.3 years, 35 (59.3%) women. Patients who chose not to use telemedicine were significantly older, mean age: 61 ± 15.2 years ( p = 0.036), 134 (46.7%) women. Most patients included (38; 64.4%) had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Most patients who chose not to use telemedicine were non-IBD patients (206, 72%). Fifty-one patients (86.4%) assessed their experience as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. Satisfied patients had significantly less time under medical follow-up (3.7 versus 6.1 years, p = 0.028) and tended to be younger ( p = non-significant). Women were statistically significantly more satisfied than men (33 versus 18, p = 0.05). Advantages reported were ‘time saving’ (31.3%), accessibility (26.1%), availability (25%). The main disadvantage was absence of physical examination (70%). Conclusions: Telemedicine gained a high satisfaction rate among patients under regular medical surveillance. Most patients stated this that method is convenient, time saving and increases their compliance. Patients who agreed to telecare were younger, and tended to be of female gender and experiencing IBD. Further studies are needed to characterize specific barriers to telecare usage.

Capsule Endoscopy in Crohn’s Disease—From a Relative Contraindication to Habitual Monitoring Tool

“…Furthermore, patients were reluctant to arrive at medical centers due to fear of exposure to the virus [81,82]. In order to avoid unnecessary clinic visits, various strategies, such as remote medicine (Telecare, Telemedicine), became highly popular [83]. Capsule endoscopy, from this perspective, may provide complete bowel screening with minimal clinic presence time (only the time needed to swallow the capsule and upload the program), and with no invasive procedure needed [82].…”

Patient’s point of view on the use of telemedicine in multiple sclerosis: a web-based survey

“…When possible, in-person visits were replaced by telephone visit or video visit, with different levels of doctors and patients' satisfaction, mostly depending on the type of visit (audio/video), patient's age, diagnosis, socioeconomic status, quality of the available technological devices, and presence of a caregiver [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Hospitalisation for Drug Infusion Did Not Increase Levels of Anxiety and the Risk of Disease Relapse in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease during COVID-19 Outbreak

“…As expected, international scientific societies suggested implementing telemedicine in order to monitor IBD patients during lockdown [18]. Globally, patients with IBD showed a positive attitude regarding telemedicine consultancies [21,46,47], probably because their age is relatively low and they are aware about using technological tools. To confirm this, a survey conducted in patients with different chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that patients with IBD (especially the younger ones) were the most inclined to accept telemedicine and showed great satisfaction with it [47].…”

“…Globally, patients with IBD showed a positive attitude regarding telemedicine consultancies [21,46,47], probably because their age is relatively low and they are aware about using technological tools. To confirm this, a survey conducted in patients with different chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that patients with IBD (especially the younger ones) were the most inclined to accept telemedicine and showed great satisfaction with it [47]. Our results are in line with previous findings, since the rate of satisfaction about remote visits was extremely high (88.3%), particularly because patients reported that they were satisfied about not having to go to the hospital (82.6%).…”