ArticleDigital health
Virtual Care Access and Health Equity during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a qualitative study of patients with chronic diseases from Canada.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic disease management among indigenous people in Canada.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Young people's experiences and strategies for improving their awareness and access to mental health and substance use health services.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Developing Balanced Quality Indicators for Monitoring Virtual Care in Ambulatory Care Environments: Modified Delphi Panel Process.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Article
- Observational
- Health Care Professionals' Experiences With Using Information and Communication Technologies in Patient Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Applying the lessons of design thinking: a unique programme of care for acutely unwell, community-dwelling COVID-19 patients.BMJ open quality · 2024Article
- Video plethysmography for contactless measurement of respiratory rate in surgical patients.Journal of clinical monitoring and computing · 2024Article
- A qualitative study on the Virtual Emergency Department care experiences of equity-deserving populations.PloS one · 2024Article
- Participants' perspectives of "NeuroSask: Active and Connect"-a virtual chronic disease management program for individuals with a neurological condition.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Addressing health inequity during the COVID-19 pandemic through primary health care and public health collaboration: a multiple case study analysis in eight high-income countries.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- The virtual family conference in stroke rehabilitation: Education, preparation, and transition planning.Clinical rehabilitation · 2023Observational
- A framework for equitable virtual rehabilitation in the metaverse era: challenges and opportunities.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2023Review
- Trends in the Volume and Types of Primary Care Visits during the Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Implementation and impacts of virtual team-based care planning for older persons in formal care settings: A scoping review.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to the widespread uptake of virtual care in Canada; however, virtual care may also create new barriers to health care. The purpose of this paper was to explore patient perceptions and concerns around virtual care access.
methodsBetween February and April 2020, we conducted semi-structured interviews with participants from four chronic disease clinics (stroke, epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, obstetrics medicine) in a mid-sized academic hospital in Southern Ontario, Canada. Consecutive sampling was done by including the patients receiving virtual care in those months. Caregivers were invited to participate in the event that patients were unable to participate in the interview. Thematic analysis was employed to identify overarching themes, and codes were reviewed and refined using a consensus process.
resultsWe interviewed 31 participants (27 patients, four caregivers) that had taken part in virtual care. Our findings suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic served to isolate participants and had negatively impacted their access to health care. However, virtual care did provide a safe avenue for patients to receive care and served as a reassuring option during the pandemic. Low technological literacy and access were identified as barriers to virtual care. Greater awareness and patient engagement is needed in future research to improve access.
conclusionCertain populations can be disproportionately affected by differential access to virtual care. Future studies should examine how social determinants intersect to impact virtual health care access in different patient populations.
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Registered trials
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