Patient Perceptions of Telehealth Primary Care Video Visits

The Article in Brief

Patient Perceptions of Telehealth Primary Care Video Visits

Kristin L. Rising , and colleagues

Background Telehealth (or telemedicine) has the potential to increase the flexibility and reach of health services. This study describes patient experiences with video visits with their established primary care clinicians.

What This Study Found Video visits are being adopted in a variety of health care settings, including primary care, because they offer increased care accessibility, decreased transportation barriers and patient empowerment.This qualitative study of 19 adult patients interviewed after video visits with their primary care clinician found that patients accept and even prefer video visits to in-person office visits. Participants reported feeling comfortable talking with their clinicians over a video call, and they identified convenience and decreased costs as benefits. Some patients expressed a preference for receiving future serious news in a video visit citing reasons of comfort, social support and privacy. Primary concerns with video visits concerned privacy, including potential for work colleagues to overhear conversations, and questioning the ability of the clinician to perform an adequate physical examination.

Implications

• The authors conclude these findings add insight into the benefits of video visits in primary care, highlighting improved convenience, efficiency, privacy and comfort for patients. The findings also raise new considerations unique to telehealth that warrant discussion with patients before use, such as using headphones or finding a private room to maintain during video visits outside of the home.