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Telemedicine in Swedish primary health care - a web-based survey exploring patient satisfaction

Rockler Meurling, Carl LU ; Adell, Elisabet ; Wolff, Moa LU ; Calling, Susanna LU ; Milos Nymberg, Veronica LU and Borgström Bolmsjö, Beata LU (2023) In BMC Health Services Research 23(1).
Abstract

Background: Direct-to-consumer telemedicine (TM), with patients having access to a physician via video or text chat, has gradually been introduced into Swedish primary care during the last two decades. Earlier studies have concluded that patients were generally satisfied with TM and the satisfaction rate was consistently above 80% and comparable with in-person visits. Despite the number of studies looking at user experience, studies assessing what factors influence patient satisfaction are lacking. To further develop digital care, it is important to explore the patients’ opinions of this relatively new phenomenon. The primary aim of this study was to explore patient opinions regarding satisfaction with TM-provided care, based on... (More)

Background: Direct-to-consumer telemedicine (TM), with patients having access to a physician via video or text chat, has gradually been introduced into Swedish primary care during the last two decades. Earlier studies have concluded that patients were generally satisfied with TM and the satisfaction rate was consistently above 80% and comparable with in-person visits. Despite the number of studies looking at user experience, studies assessing what factors influence patient satisfaction are lacking. To further develop digital care, it is important to explore the patients’ opinions of this relatively new phenomenon. The primary aim of this study was to explore patient opinions regarding satisfaction with TM-provided care, based on different age groups, sex, symptoms, and which type of health care professional they were assessed by. Methods: The study was a quantitative web survey performed in 2020–2021 in which 688 patients using a TM provider in Southern Sweden responded. The results were analysed using Chi-2 test with the main outputs; satisfaction level and percentage that would use TM for similar symptoms in the future. Results: The results from the survey population show that patients that were assessed by a doctor were more likely to intend to use TM in the future and were more satisfied with the visit than patients assessed by a nurse. Our results also show that patients older than 70 years of age were less likely to use TM again compared to the total population. Conclusion: This study shows that patient satisfaction with TM varied depending on the patient’s age. The older patients were less satisfied than their younger equivalents. For patient satisfaction to be high, it was also crucial which health care provider the patient had been assessed by. The patients were more satisfied when assessed by a doctor than by a nurse. In addition, the study shows that patient satisfaction with TM was generally comparable to traditional care.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Digital care, Primary health care, Satisfaction, Symptom group, Telemedicine
in
BMC Health Services Research
volume
23
issue
1
article number
129
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:36755273
  • scopus:85147650555
ISSN
1472-6963
DOI
10.1186/s12913-023-09133-z
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
56be0e83-5289-4c1c-882d-1e01d24d7b33
date added to LUP
2023-02-20 11:17:32
date last changed
2024-04-18 09:44:42
@article{56be0e83-5289-4c1c-882d-1e01d24d7b33,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Direct-to-consumer telemedicine (TM), with patients having access to a physician via video or text chat, has gradually been introduced into Swedish primary care during the last two decades. Earlier studies have concluded that patients were generally satisfied with TM and the satisfaction rate was consistently above 80% and comparable with in-person visits. Despite the number of studies looking at user experience, studies assessing what factors influence patient satisfaction are lacking. To further develop digital care, it is important to explore the patients’ opinions of this relatively new phenomenon. The primary aim of this study was to explore patient opinions regarding satisfaction with TM-provided care, based on different age groups, sex, symptoms, and which type of health care professional they were assessed by. Methods: The study was a quantitative web survey performed in 2020–2021 in which 688 patients using a TM provider in Southern Sweden responded. The results were analysed using Chi-2 test with the main outputs; satisfaction level and percentage that would use TM for similar symptoms in the future. Results: The results from the survey population show that patients that were assessed by a doctor were more likely to intend to use TM in the future and were more satisfied with the visit than patients assessed by a nurse. Our results also show that patients older than 70 years of age were less likely to use TM again compared to the total population. Conclusion: This study shows that patient satisfaction with TM varied depending on the patient’s age. The older patients were less satisfied than their younger equivalents. For patient satisfaction to be high, it was also crucial which health care provider the patient had been assessed by. The patients were more satisfied when assessed by a doctor than by a nurse. In addition, the study shows that patient satisfaction with TM was generally comparable to traditional care.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rockler Meurling, Carl and Adell, Elisabet and Wolff, Moa and Calling, Susanna and Milos Nymberg, Veronica and Borgström Bolmsjö, Beata}},
  issn         = {{1472-6963}},
  keywords     = {{Digital care; Primary health care; Satisfaction; Symptom group; Telemedicine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Health Services Research}},
  title        = {{Telemedicine in Swedish primary health care - a web-based survey exploring patient satisfaction}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09133-z}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12913-023-09133-z}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}