Comparison of patient responses to telehealth satisfaction surveys in rural and urban populations in Queensland
Edwin Phillip Greenup A * and Daniel Best AA Clinical Excellence Queensland, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Level 2, 15 Butterfield Street, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia.
Australian Health Review 47(5) 559-568 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH23116
Submitted: 8 June 2023 Accepted: 9 August 2023 Published: 28 August 2023
Abstract
Telehealth has for many years been identified as a potential contributor to reducing healthcare access inequality. For these benefits to be realised, patients must be accepting and satisfied with the delivery of healthcare in this manner. Measuring patient satisfaction across a large geographical area is important to ensure that investments in telehealth are delivering the benefits that are intended.
A brief survey was automatically issued on completion of a patient’s telehealth appointment, requesting patient feedback on their experience and information on the location of where they participated in the appointment. These results were compared to an article review which sought examples of other patient satisfaction measures that compared rural and urban populations.
No significant correlations between survey responses and established demographic indices were found. When stratified by the Modified Monash Model band from which the patient participated in their telehealth appointment from, an ANOVA test determined that rurality was not a predictor of survey response. A review of articles found four articles that compared rural and urban satisfaction responses.
No evidence of a patient’s location influencing their satisfaction with telehealth was observed. This may be attributed to a variety of technical improvements introduced over the past 5–10 years that have made participating in telehealth appointments less technically demanding and more accessible. Telehealth is likely to be contributing to a reduction in healthcare access inequality in Queensland.
Keywords: digital literacy, patient satisfaction, rural and remote care, rural health, telehealth, telemedicine, virtual care, virtual health.
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