TY - JOUR
T1 - Telehealth versus face-to-face visits
T2 - A comprehensive outpatient perspective-based cohort study of patients with kidney disease
AU - Androga, Lagu A.
AU - Amundson, Rachel H.
AU - Hickson, La Tonya J.
AU - Thorsteinsdottir, Bjoerg
AU - Garovic, Vesna D.
AU - Manohar, Sandhya
AU - Viehman, Jason K.
AU - Zoghby, Ziad
AU - Norby, Suzanne M.
AU - Kattah, Andrea G.
AU - Albright, Robert C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2022 Androga et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Background Telenephrology has become an important health care delivery modality during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about patient perspectives on the quality of care provided via telenephrology compared to face-to-face visits. We aimed to use objective data to study patients’ perspectives on outpatient nephrology care received via telenephrology (phone and video) versus face-to-face visits. Methods We retrospectively studied adults who received care in the outpatient Nephrology & Hypertension division at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, from March to July 2020. We used a standardized survey methodology to evaluate patient satisfaction. The primary outcome was the percent of patients who responded with a score of good (4) or very good (5) on a 5-point Likert scale on survey questions that asked their perspectives on access to their nephrologist, relationship with care provider, their opinions on the telenephrology technology, and their overall assessment of the care received. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and chi-square tests were used as appropriate to compare telenephrology versus face-to-face visits. Results 3,486 of the patient encounters were face-to-face, 808 phone and 317 video visits. 443 patients responded to satisfaction surveys, and 21% of these had telenephrology encounters. Established patients made up 79.6% of telenephrology visits and 60.9% of face-to-face visits. There was no significant difference in patient perceived access to health care, satisfaction with their care provider, or overall quality of care between patients cared for via telenephrology versus face-to-face. Patient satisfaction was also equally high. Conclusions Patient satisfaction was equally high amongst those patients seen face-to-face or via telenephrology.
AB - Background Telenephrology has become an important health care delivery modality during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about patient perspectives on the quality of care provided via telenephrology compared to face-to-face visits. We aimed to use objective data to study patients’ perspectives on outpatient nephrology care received via telenephrology (phone and video) versus face-to-face visits. Methods We retrospectively studied adults who received care in the outpatient Nephrology & Hypertension division at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, from March to July 2020. We used a standardized survey methodology to evaluate patient satisfaction. The primary outcome was the percent of patients who responded with a score of good (4) or very good (5) on a 5-point Likert scale on survey questions that asked their perspectives on access to their nephrologist, relationship with care provider, their opinions on the telenephrology technology, and their overall assessment of the care received. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and chi-square tests were used as appropriate to compare telenephrology versus face-to-face visits. Results 3,486 of the patient encounters were face-to-face, 808 phone and 317 video visits. 443 patients responded to satisfaction surveys, and 21% of these had telenephrology encounters. Established patients made up 79.6% of telenephrology visits and 60.9% of face-to-face visits. There was no significant difference in patient perceived access to health care, satisfaction with their care provider, or overall quality of care between patients cared for via telenephrology versus face-to-face. Patient satisfaction was also equally high. Conclusions Patient satisfaction was equally high amongst those patients seen face-to-face or via telenephrology.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0265073
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0265073
M3 - Article
C2 - 35275958
AN - SCOPUS:85126360753
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 3 March
M1 - e0265073
ER -