ArticleBMC health services research2023
Patient perspectives on telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods community-based study.
Article in BMC health services research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perceptions and Experiences of a Multimodal Rehabilitation Program for People With Post-Acute COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Trial
- Predicting Anticipated Telehealth Use: Development of the CONTEST Score and Machine Learning Models Using a National U.S. Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Low-Tech Telemedicine Reduces Caregiver Burden and Improves Outcomes in Older Adults with Chronic Diseases: Results from a Prospective Study in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Fear of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Patient Preferences for Medical Services in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Willingness of healthcare professionals in China to continue participating in and recommend telemedicine post COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessing patient experiences with a Virtual Triage and Assessment Centre (VTAC): a mixed-methods study using an online survey and semi-structured interviews in Renfrew County, Ontario.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Investigating Inpatient Acceptance of a Unique Telemedicine Service Trialled in the Acute Ward in Rural Australia.Journal of patient experience · 2025Article
- Lessons learned for pandemic preparedness in the neurodegenerative research and clinical fields: an advice report based on Parkinson's disease as an example.BMC neurology · 2024Article
- Increased Early-Mortality in Children With Solid Tumors During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Middle-Income Country.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Colorectal cancer follow-up after surgical resection since the COVID-19 pandemic: first steps towards out-of-hospital follow-up?ESMO real world data and digital oncology · 2024Article
- Quality of life in the digital age: young adult hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients and healthcare providers' views of telehealth.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Outpatient Video Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Survey Study of Patients' Experiences and Characteristics.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Evaluating Patient Experience with Integrated Virtual Care (IVC), a Hybrid Primary Care Model in Rural Ontario, Canada: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDetailed community-based perspectives on patient experiences with telemedicine are currently lacking, yet essential to assess clinical applicability of telemedicine during and beyond pandemics, alike COVID-19. The aim of this study was to expose patient perspectives on virtual compared to in-person consultations, including determinants of these preferences.
methodsWe invited 5864 participants of the population-based Rotterdam Study to fill in a validated questionnaire using both close-ended and free-text questions. The questionnaire was sent on 30 July 2020, following a period of lockdowns and closures of non-essential workplaces. It assessed preferences for physician contact, healthcare utilisation, socioeconomic factors, and overall health. Those who experienced at least one virtual consultation (telephone or video call) between March 2020 and the beginning of July 2020 were asked whether those consultations were more, equally or less pleasant than in-person consultations, and to detail their experiences through free-text comments. These narrative data were examined using thematic analysis.
results4514 participants completed the questionnaire (response rate 77.0%, 58.7% women, mean age 70.8 ± 10.5 years). 1103 participants (24.4%) reported having had experience with virtual consultations. Half of these participants considered virtual consultations less pleasant than in-person consultations (N = 556; 50.4%), while 11.5% found it more pleasant. In total, we coded free-text comments of 752 participants. Prominent themes behind patient preferences for virtual or in-person consultations were lack of nonverbal communication, lack of physical examination, consultation scheduling, personal circumstances, and the presence of somatic and/or language barriers.
conclusionsBased on the experiences of a large elderly patient population, we showed that preference for virtual or in-person consultations is dependent on personal and situational variety, and their interplay. Healthcare providers should consider patients' complex care needs and evaluate the potential added value of nonverbal communication and physical examination before scheduling a virtual consultation.
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