Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan WL
Affiliation :
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Introduction :
The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably challenged the traditional way of consultation with patients. As a Smart hospital, in order to maintain a desirable service level and mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19 to patients, telemedicine consultation has been introduced as an interim measure to replace face-to-face consultation. After conducting the telemedicine consultation, each patient was requested to complete a questionnaire for indicating his/her satisfaction with the service.
Objectives :
(1)To reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19 through personal contact in an acute hospital (2)To offers patients with a simple and convenient virtual care without in-person visits (3)To enhance patient satisfaction
Methodology :
A questionnaire was designed to solicit the views of patients after telemedicine consultation. It has three questions on convenience, ease to use and willingness to pay for telemedicine consultation. There are two more questions about the merits and limitations of telemedicine consultation.
Result & Outcome :
Four patients have participated in the survey. For a grade between 0 and 10, one patient rated 7 and three rated 9 on the Time and Flexibility of telemedicine consultation and ease of using the apps for conducting telemedicine consultation. Three of them indicated the willingness to pay a fee of $80 for enjoying the same service in the future. One patient had reservation to pay on the ground that there is lack of immediate necessary treatment. All patients agreed that the major merit of telemedicine consultation is time saving through the avoidance of travel and associated delay. Other benefits noted include cost saving for travel, user friendliness, enhanced communication and reduction of risk of infecting COVID-19. Despite the substantial benefits, patients also shared some areas of limitations such as lack of immediate necessary treatment, and more patient preparation required. Conclusions: Based on the results of the survey, there is some convincing evidence on the efficacy and effectiveness of telemedicine consultation especially the clinical benefit obtained through avoidance of travel and associated delays. That said, there are limitations. The main ones are the breakdown in the relationship between nurse and patients and issues concerning the lack of immediate necessary treatment and organizational difficulties. Since the sample population is small, more research is warrant for examining the advantages and disadvantages of telemedicine consultation.
