Views of residents of rural areas on accessibility to specialist care through videoconference

Abstract

Accessibility to specialized health care is important for residents in rural areas. Videoconsultation can provide increased accessibility to health care. Before implementation of new technologies, it is important to study residents' views. This study describes views of residents of rural areas on accessibility to specialist care and the use of videoconsultation as tool to increase accessibility. A questionnaire was distributed via the primary health care centres in rural areas of northern Sweden. Data was analysed with both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative analysis revealed three main areas: savings in time, environmental damage and cost of not having to travel were important; security of information must be coupled with increased availability of specialist care; responses depended on an individual's specific health care needs. The open-ended answers resulted into two categories: 1) experiences related to availability of specialist care and 2) views on participating in VC. Despite the fact that rural residents considered the distance as important factor in access to care, there was uncertainty regarding videoconsultation as solution. Although respondents were familiar with different types of communication technologies, they probably hesitated because they did not have information on what videoconsultation would mean to them.