Quality of care through tele-medicine during COVID-19; Evaluating patient perceptions of quality of care

COVID-19 Research Area(s): Healthcare Delivery & Policy

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many family practice clinics are not operating at full capacity, limiting in-person visits to those deemed necessary. Telemedicine has been implemented as a tool to engage with patient care and maintain social distancing. We hope to understand the virtual vs in-person breakdown in primary care clinics in Langley, BC, evaluate the perceived quality of care between virtual and in-person visits, and understand patients needs to optimize their experiences in the future. We will survey participants seen via telemedicine, in-person, and those initially seen via telemedicine and required in-person follow up. We will use the Primary Care Patient Experience Survey which requires 5-10 minutes. Visits will be further subdivided based on urgency and in-person vs virtual diagnostic ability. We hypothesize that most patients will be satisfied with their care through telemedicine and hope for this to continue beyond COVID-19 with a small subset preferring in-person visits. Direct comparison of patient satisfaction will occur between the various groups to assess overall perceived quality of care.