Remote consultations in primary care: Patient experiences and suggestions for improvement

Remote consultations in primary care: Patient experiences and suggestions for improvement

The use of Remote Consultations (RCs) in primary care expanded rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic: their ongoing use highlights a need to improve experiences of them. We interviewed 17 adults in the UK, including a sub-sample of five people with a First Language other than English (FLotE). Interpr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of health psychology Vol. 29; no. 12; pp. 1321 - 1335
Main Authors: de Visser, Richard O, Nwamba, Chimela, Brearley, Eve, Shafiei, Vahid, Hart, Lia
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-10-2024
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Appropriate technology
COVID-19
Empathy
Female
Full Length
Humans
Inappropriateness
Interpretative phenomenological analysis
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Patient Satisfaction
Patients
Primary care
Primary Health Care
Qualitative Research
Remote Consultation
SARS-CoV-2
Telemedicine
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
patient satisfaction
remote consultations
doctor-patient communication
qualitative method
continuity of care
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Summary:The use of Remote Consultations (RCs) in primary care expanded rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic: their ongoing use highlights a need to improve experiences of them. We interviewed 17 adults in the UK, including a sub-sample of five people with a First Language other than English (FLotE). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis identified five major themes: (1) RCs are convenient, but they require appropriate technology and appropriate conditions of use; (2) even those with good general eHealth literacy and connectivity may struggle with systems that are not user-friendly; (3) greater reliance on verbal communication was experience as limiting empathy, and also made RCs more difficult for people with a FLotE; (4) RCs are considered inappropriate for complex conditions, or those with major psychological components; (5) continuity of care is important, but is often lacking. Overall, interviewees emphasised the need for more user-friendly processes, and greater attention to patients’ preferences for consultation type.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1359-1053
1461-7277
1461-7277
DOI:10.1177/13591053241240383