| Title: | Patients and doctors satisfaction with virtual clinics in Respiratory Department |
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| Author(s): | D Halim, S Toland, RW Costello, NG McElvaney, C Gunaratnam, P Branagan, K Hurley, E O’Brien, R Morgan, I Sulaiman |
| Institution: | Beaumont Hospital |
| Poster: | Click to view poster |
| Category: | General Respiratory and Sleep |
| Abstract: | In light of the COVID19 pandemic and need for social distancing, many out-patient services have opted for phone call consultation or virtual clinic (VC). We aimed to establish if VC is a viable alternative to face-to-face clinic (F2FC) in a respiratory department. One-Hundred participants were asked to fill out patient satisfaction questionnaires via phone call. Eighteen physicians within the department were also asked to fill out questionnaires. The majority of patients (94%) were satisfied with VC and agreed that VC was convenient (n=90), information was relayed clearly (n=96) and covered everything that patients wanted to discuss (n=92). VC was deemed comparable to F2FC by 83 patients. However, 44 (44%) patients preferred F2FC in the future. From the physician perspective, 10 (56%) were satisfied with VC and 8 (45%) felt that it was comparable to F2FC. Interestingly, 11 (61%) physicians had no specific clinic preferences. Comparing patient and physician perspectives, patients had significantly better perception of VC than physicians (p-value <0.05). However, the preference of the clinics type, whether it be F2FC or VC, was not statistically different. (p-value 0.69). Virtual clinics, by phone call, is a feasible medium to continue running a respiratory out patient service while adhering to social distancing with good patient satisfaction. In addition we have identified ways to improve this service. |
