Underserved Patients Report Positive Experience With Telehealth

THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Most patients seen at a primary care clinic for underserved minority patients report positive experiences with telemedicine, according to a study published online Dec. 14 in Cureus.

Heather N. Abraham, M.D., from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, and colleagues surveyed patients to assess satisfaction with the medical and social aspects of the care they received via telemedicine at a university-affiliated primary care training clinic. The analysis included responses from 79 participants (ages 18 to 74 years).

The researchers found that 3 percent of participants reported feeling “uncomfortable” sharing details about their health concerns via telemedicine. More than half of the patients (60 percent) felt some level of comfort with telemedicine after their first encounter, while 14 percent were still uncomfortable and 26 percent were neutral. Most participants (88 percent) said they were willing to participate in future telemedicine visits. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents “strongly agreed” that concerns related to their social determinants of health were addressed, and 59 percent “strongly agreed” that the resources provided by their physician were helpful.

“Telemedicine was well received, with high satisfaction for addressing medical and social concerns,” the authors write. “The results of this study support the use of telemedicine to assess social determinants of health in an underserved minoritized patient population and will help physicians optimize future interactions with patients through telemedicine.”