Patient Satisfaction with Telehealth during the COVID 19 Pandemic in a Pediatric Pulmonary Clinic

Capusan, Karen Y.; Fenster, Talia

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted healthcare delivery systems and has resulted in the rapid implementation of telehealth services across many healthcare specialties. In the midst of a statewide shutdown and social distancing recommendations, healthcare providers were encouraged to deliver patient care using telehealth platforms when medically appropriate. As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to leverage digital mediums to increase patient access to healthcare, our pediatric pulmonary division sought out to measure patient satisfaction with a new telehealth platform. METHOD: A survey was sent to 281 pediatric pulmonary patients from March 2020 to April 2020. Parents were asked to rate their overall experience with telemedicine. RESULTS: 50 surveys were completed, and results indicated that overall initial satisfaction with care was high and participants were likely to use telehealth again in the future. DISCUSSION: 82% of participants either “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that they would use telehealth services again. These outcome measures may reflect increased patient comfort with integrating telehealth into routine pediatric pulmonary care services. Given high patient satisfaction ratings, we believe that the telehealth platform should be considered for use in routine practice after the COVID-19 pandemic has resolved.