How COVID-19 Broke the Barriers Related to the Implementation of Telecare—Patients’ Experiences with a New form of Providing Health Services in Primary Health Care

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly contributed to accelerating the development of telemedicine and eHealth. The main aim of this study was to assess the attitudes of patients towards remote care implemented in general practice (GP) during the pandemic. The study was a pilot study conducted in March-April 2021, considering technical aspects of using teleconsultations, and evaluating the difficulties, advantages and disadvantages for patients. When assessing opinions, a simple Likert scale was used, where a value of 1 meant the worst possible assessment or strong disagreement and the upper value the best or full agreement of the respondent. The study covered 408 respondents. Their biggest organizational challenge reaching GPs by telephone, regardless of the patients' home location (p = 0.23698). Obtaining e-documents was not problematic but was rated as worse by men (p = 0.048295). Respondents rated the overall effectiveness of teleconsultations more highly if they could speak directly with a doctor (p = 0.0005). There were no differences in willingness to recommend teleconsultations based on gender (p = 0.2432), place of residence (p = 0.7878), age (p = 0.290355) or education (p = 0.9109), but people assessing the overall effectiveness of telemedicine more highly were more willing to recommend it (p = 0.000). Respondents assess teleconsultations in a differentiated way, noticing both positive and negative features of the remote form of providing health services.