Emergency physician perspectives on using telehealth with older adults during COVID‐19: A qualitative study
Autor: | Frances N. Jiménez, Elizabeth M. Goldberg, Kevin Chen, Melinda Li, Terrie Fox Wetle, Natalie M. Davoodi, Maria Zou |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Telemedicine Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) business.industry telehealth RC86-88.9 Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid Telehealth Disease The Practice of Emergency Medicine COVID‐19 emergency medicine Family medicine Acute care Pandemic medicine General Earth and Planetary Sciences Misinformation telemedicine business Original Research General Environmental Science Qualitative research qualitative methods |
Zdroj: | Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open, Vol 2, Iss 5, Pp n/a-n/a (2021) Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open |
ISSN: | 2688-1152 |
Popis: | Objectives Emergency medicine physicians have played a pivotal role throughout the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID‐19) pandemic through in‐person and remote management and treatment. Our primary objectives were to understand emergency medicine physicians’ experiences using telehealth throughout the pandemic, any facilitators/barriers to successful usage, lessons learned during implementation, and successful/abandoned strategies used to engage with older adults. Methods Using a semi‐structured interview guide, we conducted 30‐min interviews. We used purposeful sampling to recruit emergency medicine physicians from all United States regions, rural–urban settings, and academic and community practices, who reported caring for patients 65 years or older in‐person or virtually during the pandemic. Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed, double‐coded, and analyzed for emergent themes using framework analysis. Results A total of 15 in‐depth interviews were completed from September to November 2020. Physicians had a median age of 37 years, 7 were women, and 9 had experience with telehealth before the pandemic. We identified several themes: (1) there were various motivations for telehealth use; (2) telehealth was used primarily to supplement, not replace in‐person care; (3) most platforms were easy to use; (4) patients and caregivers had high acceptability of telemedicine; and (5) older adults with sensory and cognitive impairments often relied on caregivers. Emergency medicine physicians played a critical role during primary care office closures during the first wave—dispelling misinformation about COVID‐19, triaging patients to testing and treatment, and providing care that would otherwise have been deferred. Conclusions Our data show that telemedicine gained acceptability among emergency medicine physicians and provided options to patients who may have otherwise deferred care. These findings can inform future healthcare delivery for acute care needs or pandemic responses. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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