Survey on the use of general practice telehealth services for children during the COVID-19 pandemic
Ashwin Ramanathan A , Paddy Ramanathan B and Amit Saha C *A Resident Medical Officer, Joondalup Health Campus, Perth, WA, Australia.
B Director Wembley Downs Family Practice, Perth, WA, Australia.
C Consultant Paediatrician, St John of God Midland, Perth, WA, Australia.
Australian Journal of Primary Health 28(6) 529-534 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY21153
Submitted: 7 July 2021 Accepted: 3 May 2022 Published: 15 June 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY)
Abstract
In 2020, the Australian Government introduced temporary Medicare Benefits Schedule item numbers for GP telehealth consultations to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patient satisfaction has been positive; however, the paediatric cohort has not been sufficiently investigated. We aimed to explore the rates of satisfaction of paediatric patients undergoing telehealth compared with standard consultations, as well as looking at any barriers faced. We developed and distributed an online survey to eligible patients (or their guardian) aged 0–17 years who underwent a general practice telehealth consultation between March 2020 and May 2020 at 12 participating medical centres in Perth. We received 68 total responses with 35 deemed complete. The mean (s.d.) age of participants was 8.22 (5.34) years. A total of 88.2% of participants indicated that the level of care provided via telehealth was equal to or better than a standard consultation. A total of 70.6% of patients reported no barriers faced, with the most common barrier being lack of examination (20.6%). This study describes high public satisfaction with telehealth GP consultations for paediatric patients, with a good level of patient outcomes and minimal barriers. There may be benefit to widespread and ongoing use of telehealth consultations for the paediatric population and the extension of the temporary Medicare Benefits Schedule items.
Keywords: child health, COVID-19, general practice, online survey, patient satisfaction, Perth, telehealth, temporary MBS.
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