Abstract
Telemedicine is a promising modality to provide specialized care in periods when attendance is challenged, as recently observed during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the satisfaction with telemedicine visits in a group of Parkinson´s disease (PD) patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to identify demographic or clinical factors associated with higher telemedicine satisfaction. Retrospective cohort study of PD patients who attended telemedicine visits at Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, from March 1, 2020 until March 31, 2021. An eleven-question telephone survey was used to assess satisfaction with telemedicine visits. Patients’ answers were dichotomized into “satisfied” or “not satisfied” to study the factors associated with satisfaction with telemedicine. Mann–Whitney U for continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables were performed to compare data between the two groups. Linear regression was used to study the factors associated with being satisfied with telemedicine. A total of 111 patients (87%) accepted to participate in this survey. The majority (n = 74.67%) reported being satisfied with telemedicine visits. Patients preferred a combination of in-person and telemedicine visits (n = 43.39%). Male gender (p < 0.001) and employed patients (p < 0.001) were associated with higher satisfaction. In the linear regression, therapeutic changes deemed clear (p < 0.014) and considering the absence of neurological examination non-detrimental (p < 0.001) were associated with a higher degree of satisfaction with telemedicine. Most patients are satisfied with telemedicine visits, even in urgent implementation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, telemedicine does not pose a hurdle to a paradigm shift away from conventional in-person appointments.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by MM, MS, and RV. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MM, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Supplementary file 1: 11-question survey to evaluate patient satisfaction with telemedicine visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. (DOCX 15 KB)
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Magriço, M., Serôdio, M., Ventura, R. et al. Parkinson’s disease patients’ perspective on telephone visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Neural Transm 130, 1547–1551 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-023-02697-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-023-02697-4