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A review of audiovisual telemedicine utilization and satisfaction assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2021

Raphael Agbali Open the ORCID record for Raphael Agbali [Opens in a new window] ,
Andrew E. Balas ,
Francesco Beltrame  and
Gianluca De Leo
Raphael Agbali*
Affiliation:
College of Allied Health Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Andrew E. Balas
Affiliation:
College of Allied Health Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Francesco Beltrame
Affiliation:
Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and System Engineering University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Gianluca De Leo
Affiliation:
College of Allied Health Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Raphael Agbali, E-mail: ragbali@augusta.edu
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Abstract

Introduction

The use of telemedicine has broadened as technology that both restores continuity of care during disruptions in healthcare delivery and routinely provides primary care alone or in combination with in-person care. During the Covid-19 outbreak, the use of telemedicine as a routine care modality further accelerated.

Methods

A review of scientific studies that used telemedicine to provide care from December 2019 to December 2020 is presented. From an initial set of 2,191 articles, 36 studies are analyzed. Evidence is organized and evaluated according to the country of study, the clinical specialty, the technology platform used, and satisfaction and utilization outcomes.

Results

Thirty-one studies reported high patient satisfaction scores. Eight studies reported satisfaction from both providers and patients with no uniformly accepted assessment instrument. Eight studies conducted a descriptive analysis of telemedicine use and patient adoption patterns. Less than one-third of studies were controlled before/after studies. Most studies were conducted in the USA followed by Europe.

Conclusions

Reported satisfaction rates are high, consistent with previously documented research, whereas utilization rates increased significantly compared with the prepandemic period. Future work in developing standardized uniform assessment instruments, embedded with each telemedicine system, would increase versatility and agility in the assessment, boosting statistical power and the interpretation of results.

Keywords

Covid-19TelemedicineOutcomesAssessmentAudiovisual consultation
Type
Assessment
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , 2022 , e2
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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