JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Many clinics and health systems implemented telemedicine appointment services out of necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective:

Our objective was to evaluate neurology patient and general provider satisfaction with telemedicine implementation at an urban academic medical center.

Methods:

Patients who had completed one or more teleneurology visits from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 were asked to complete a survey regarding demographic information and their satisfaction with teleneurology visits. Providers of all specialties within the same hospital system were given a different survey to gather their experiences providing telemedicine care.

Results:

Of the estimated 1500 patients who had completed a teleneurology visit within the given timeframe, 117 consented to complete the survey. Nearly 75% of patients rated their experience as an 8 out of 10 or higher, with 10 being the highest satisfaction. Over 75% of patients reported missing an appointment in the previous year due to transportation issues and thought telemedicine was convenient instead. A significant relationship between racial/ethnic group and comfort sharing private info was found (p=<.001), with 52% of Black patients reporting that an office visit is better, compared to 25% of non-Black patients. The provider survey gathered 40 responses, with 75% of providers agreeing that virtual visits are a valuable tool for patient care and 80% reporting few to no technical issues.

Conclusions:

Our study found adequate satisfaction among patients and providers regarding telemedicine implementation in a diverse urban population. One area identified by patients in need of improvement was comfortability in communicating via telemedicine with their providers. More research and quality studies are needed to further appreciate and support the expansion of telemedical care into underserved and rural populations, especially in areas of subspecialty neurological care.