We have seen that the world is now adapting to telehealth instead of in-person care and we are also aware that doctors and hospitals are also bundling telehealth services even after discharge so that they can monitor the patients once they have left in-person care. This has also helped the doctors reduce the burden on their facilities as they can discharge patients earlier for those who can get better at home. However, did you ever think about a day where patients would say that they are finding the experience of telehealth better than in-person care? Well, even we did not see this day but here we are already.
Yes, Cancer patients were surveyed to take their response of which experience is better between telehealth and in-person care. And to everyone’s surprise, the recorded responses revealed that telehealth was better in their experience than in-person care. “The researchers analyzed survey response data for 33,318 patients with in-person visits and 5950 patients with telemedicine visits from April 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. The researchers assessed two key outcomes: patients’ access to care and provider concern related to patients’ questions or worries. Patients were more likely to report better access to care if they used telemedicine rather than in-person visits — 75.8% and 62.5%, respectively (P <.001). Patients were also more likely to report a better experience concerning provider concern if they used telemedicine rather than in-person visits — 90.7% and 84.2%, respectively (P <.001)”.
At the end of their research, the researchers concluded that “In this study, a large oncology dataset showed that telemedicine resulted in better patient experience of care in terms of access and care provider concern compared with in-person visits”. “Patient experience of care with telemedicine visits did not change over time, suggesting that implementing telemedicine was effective.” They added that “long-term data are necessary to determine whether the quality of care and oncologic outcomes are equivalent to in-person visits.” It was noted that the experience of telehealth was also made better with the timeliness of their service, the reduced cost of travel and the ability to engage in giving care even when in-person visits were not available.
