The Value of Virtual Meetings during COVID-19 Pandemic in Healthcare Settings

Abstract

Introduction/Objective The coronavirus pandemic led to an unprecedented rise in using virtual meeting technology in the healthcare sector for conferences, business meetings, and continuous medical education. This study aims to understand the practices and individual preferences and to highlight the benefits and challenges of virtual meetings compared to in-person ones. Methods/Case Report This cross-sectional study was disseminated via email as an online survey, using SurveyMonkey (Momentive Inc. San Mateo, California, USA) and targeted healthcare providers at the King Hussein Cancer Center-Amman, Jordan. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) A total of 342 healthcare providers took part in this questionnaire. 82.5% of respondents reported participating in virtual meetings; of those, only 33.5% preferred virtual over in-person meetings (PrV). Whether virtual meetings were equivalent to in-person ones, 33.2% of all participants (71.4% of the PrV) said virtual meetings were equivalent to in-person meetings in terms of participants’ attention (p<0.001). Additionally 54.8% of all participants believed their gain level was less in virtual meetings compared to the conventional in-person ones; this percentage differs significantly between the participant's group who preferred in-person (PrP) over virtual meetings and the PV group who believed otherwise (75.0% vs 13.2%, p<0.001). Nonetheless, when respondents were asked about their meeting preferences in the event of a pandemic, 49.5% of all healthcare providers preferred virtual over in-person meetings (91.3% of the PrV group p<0.001). Almost half the participants (54.3%) reported that they tend to temporarily leave virtual meetings before it is over, yet, this percentage rockets to 70.0% if the meeting is over 2 hours long. On the other hand 43.3% of respondents admitted to leaving the meeting physically while keeping themselves logged in on their mobile/computer. An interesting result of the survey was that 58.3% of all respondents preferred to attend virtual meetings during working hours (85.7% of the PrV group, p<0.001). Finally, when asked about performing other tasks while in a virtual meeting, the vast majority (82.6%) of respondents confirmed either answering the phone, reading/sending emails, or checking a social media outlet at least once, which contributes to a lack of adequate concentration. Conclusion Healthcare providers still prefer and attach more value and benifit to in-person interactions