Satisfaction with a telemedicine service among patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

IntroductionInformation and communication technologies (ICT) have made it possible to provide the population with accessible, profitable, and high-quality healthcare services in different pathologies. It is important to conduct an evaluation of the satisfaction of users of telemedicine who require frequent monitoring as in the case of chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis; this is also important for insurers. ObjetiveThe objective of the study was to evaluate the degree of satisfaction with telemedicine care among patients with rheumatoid arthritis from a health provider entity in Colombia. Materials and methodsAn observational, descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out, patients older than 18 years with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis who received telemedicine care on more than one occasion were included, telephone surveys were carried out in which the SERVQHOS questionnaire was applied to evaluate the quality of the health service; A dissatisfied patient was defined as one with an average response of 3 or less in the questions of the questionnaire, and a very satisfied patient when the average was 4 or more. The primary objective was to determine the degree of satisfaction of a cohort and the number of highly satisfied patients. We also evaluated whether there was an association between sex, age, origin, number of consultations, socio-economic status, and educational level with a high rating by very satisfied patients. ResultsA total of 243 patients were evaluated. Evaluation of satisfaction with the telemedicine service in rheumatology showed that 92.2% of the patients were satisfied and 49% very satisfied. In the subsequent analysis, an association was found between very high satisfaction and a greater number of consultations (p = 0.001), people living in rural areas (p = 0.03), and a higher level of schooling with a greater difference in secondary education (p = 0.017). ConclusionsWe found that the vast majority of patients surveyed were satisfied with the quality of telemedicine care and half were very satisfied which increases with the number of consultations, in people from rural areas and in some educational levels.