Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic has forced major changes on healthcare systems Maintaining regular patients' surveillance became a major challenge Telemedicine has been promoted as an economic and effective way for long distance patient care Our aim was to study patients' acceptance and perspectives on telemedicine Methods: Patients scheduled for clinic appointments were offered telemedicine Those who agreed were asked to fill in a questionnaire assessing their satisfaction with the medical consultation Patients' demographic characteristics and answers were collected and reviewed Results: Out of 358 patients approached 71 agreed to use telemedicine Of them, 59 completed the questionnaire and were included in the study All patients' basic demographic data were collected Patients' included in the study mean age was: 43 ± 16 3 years, 35 (59 3%) women Patients who chose not to use telemedicine were significantly older, mean age: 61 ± 15 2 years (p = 0 036), 134 (46 7%) women Most patients included (38;64 4%) had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) Most patients who chose not to use telemedicine were non-IBD patients (206, 72%) Fifty-one patients (86 4%) assessed their experience as 'good' or 'excellent' Satisfied patients had significantly less time under medical follow-up (3 7 versus 6 1 years, p = 0 028) and tended to be younger (p = non-significant) Women were statistically significantly more satisfied than men (33 versus 18, p = 0 05) Advantages reported were 'time saving' (31 3%), accessibility (26 1%), availability (25%) The main disadvantage was absence of physical examination (70%) Conclusions: Telemedicine gained a high satisfaction rate among patients under regular medical surveillance Most patients stated this that method is convenient, time saving and increases their compliance Patients who agreed to telecare were younger, and tended to be of female gender and experiencing IBD Further studies are needed to characterize specific barriers to telecare usage [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology is the property of Sage Publications Inc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Telemedicine in clinical gastroenterology practice: what do patients prefer?