JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Hospital-at-Home (HaH) programmes played a critical role in supporting healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic and have the potential to be expanded to provide support during non-pandemic times. The use of virtual consultations and remote vital signs monitoring are integral tools to improving provider efficiency and patient safety in HaH. However, there is a lack of studies examining the experiences and perceptions of healthcare providers regarding their usage.

Objective:

This study aimed to understand the experiences and perspectives of healthcare providers towards virtual consultations and vital signs monitoring systems within a HaH programme to optimise effectiveness and address challenges in future implementation.

Methods:

A convergent mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative in-depth interviews with an electronic survey designed based on the five domains (usefulness, ease of use, effectiveness, reliability, and satisfaction) of the Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ) was used.

Results:

37 surveys and 20 interviews were completed. Participants responded positively to the use of both virtual consultation and vital signs monitoring with a mean total TUQ score of each method being 4.55 (SD 0.44) and 4.52 (SD 0.42) respectively. Significantly higher mean ratings were observed among doctors compared to non-doctors for usefulness (P=.032) and ease of use (P=.047) in virtual consultations. Healthcare providers with fewer years of clinical experience also perceived the use of vital signs monitoring to be more effective (P=.021) and more usable (P=.035) than those with more years of experience. Qualitative analysis identified four themes: positive experiences such as improved work convenience, efficiency, and satisfaction, negative experiences such as communication and technological challenges, perceptions of benefits and risks of telehealth use in HaH, and enablers for successful implementation. Comparing both datasets, qualitative findings were aligned with and confirmed quantitative results.

Conclusions:

This study highlighted the benefits and usability of telehealth among healthcare providers. However, challenges relating to patient communication, technological issues, and delivery of care were also discussed along with enablers for successful implementation. These insights can inform strategies to optimise future implementation of telehealth in HaH beyond the pandemic.

Conclusions:

This study highlighted the benefits and usability of telehealth among healthcare providers. However, challenges relating to patient communication, technological issues, and delivery of care were also discussed along with enablers for successful implementation. These insights can inform strategies to optimise future implementation of telehealth in HaH beyond the pandemic.