Nelson, S.; Battis, N.; Harden, R. Patient Attitudes Regarding Audio-Only Telemedicine in Rural Minnesota. Preprints2023, 2023060311. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.0311.v1
APA Style
Nelson, S., Battis, N., & Harden, R. (2023). Patient Attitudes Regarding Audio-Only Telemedicine in Rural Minnesota. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.0311.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Nelson, S., Nicholas Battis and Ryan Harden. 2023 "Patient Attitudes Regarding Audio-Only Telemedicine in Rural Minnesota" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.0311.v1
Abstract
Purpose: This study aims to provide a foundational understanding of patient-centric perceptions of telemedicine implementation in rural Minnesota. Methods: This retrospective cohort study utilized a mail questionnaire to assess patient attitudes and behaviors regarding telemedicine during the emergency response to COVID-19. The target population was patients of a Primary Care clinic in eastern Minnesota. Descriptive statistics were used to assess respondents’ level of agreement with survey items scored on a 0-10 scale. Results: A majority of the respondents indicated that they were satisfied with using telemedicine (73.96%); that they gained an additional sense of control over their health condition due to the availability of telemedicine (52.08%); that they would support the use of telemedicine in the future (61.05%); that telemedicine increased access to care (65.63%); telemedicine was preferred over the clinic (61.46%), and that they would purchase new equipment to increase the utility of telemedicine services (54.17%). 51.04% of the respondents indicated a 10/10 level of satisfaction with telemedicine services. 48.96% indicated the strongest level of disagreement related to difficulty using telemedicine or a preference for in-person clinical appointments. Conclusions: Patients were found to have favorable perceptions of telemedicine overall. Though providers continue to recognize the benefit of face-to-face visits, their patients show an increased predilection for virtual care and telemedicine will likely remain an essential tool for providers to reach patients who would otherwise choose not to seek care.
Public Health and Healthcare, Health Policy and Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
