Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception

Background: The onset of the pandemic necessitated abrupt transition to telehealth consultations. Although there is a few tools that gauge the patients' perception about their experiences, none of them are contextualized to an emergency in the Middle East and North Africa region. Accordingly, t...

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Autores principales:	Ghadah A. Al-Sharif, Alia A. Almulla, Eman AlMerashi, Reem Alqutami, Mohammad Almoosa, Mona Zakaria Hegazi, Farah Otaki, Samuel B. Ho
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	COVID-19 pandemic healthcare quality telehealth teleconsultation mixed methods data integration Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4ffe4db55c844a678c8ccfe815dd154f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4ffe4db55c844a678c8ccfe815dd154f2021-12-01T16:44:08ZTelehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception2296-256510.3389/fpubh.2021.730647https://doaj.org/article/4ffe4db55c844a678c8ccfe815dd154f2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.730647/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2296-2565Background: The onset of the pandemic necessitated abrupt transition to telehealth consultations. Although there is a few tools that gauge the patients' perception about their experiences, none of them are contextualized to an emergency in the Middle East and North Africa region. Accordingly, this study aims at developing and validating a tool to address this gap, and deploying it to assess the patients' perception of telehealth services during COVID-19 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: A convergent mixed methods design was adapted. A random selection of 100 patients from Dubai, UAE were invited to participate. Qualitative and quantitative datasets were collected using a tailor-made survey. The qualitative data, collected through open-ended questions, was analyzed using multi-staged thematic analysis. As for the quantitative data, it captured the patients' extent of satisfaction, and was assessed using SPSS (with a series of descriptive and inferential analyses). The qualitative and quantitative findings were then merged via joint display analysis.Results: Out of the 100 patients that were randomly selected, 94 patients participated in this study. The reliability score of Cronbach's Alpha for the instrument was 98.9%. The percentage of the total average of satisfaction was 80.67%. The Principal Component Analysis showed that 88.1% of the variance can be explained by the instrument (p < 0.001). The qualitative data analysis expanded upon the quantitative findings enabling a better understanding of the patients' perception. Three themes, revolving around the quality of the patient telehealth experiences, surfaced: “Factors that worked to the benefit of the patients,” “Factors that the patients were not in favor of,” and “Opportunities for improvements as perceived by the patients.”Discussion: This study introduced a novel patient satisfaction with telehealth consultation survey contextualized to the COVID-19 times in Dubai, UAE. The participants were quite satisfied with the quality of their experience, however they suggested areas for improvement. Regional healthcare decision-makers can leverage the identified advantages and opportunities for improvement of telehealth. This will enable making informed decisions regarding the continuity of telehealth irrespective of how matters unfold in relation to the pandemic. It will also better prepare the healthcare sector for potential resurgence(s) of COVID-19 and/or the occurrence of other similar emergencies.Ghadah A. Al-SharifAlia A. AlmullaEman AlMerashiReem AlqutamiMohammad AlmoosaMona Zakaria HegaziFarah OtakiSamuel B. HoSamuel B. HoFrontiers Media S.A.articleCOVID-19 pandemichealthcare qualitytelehealthteleconsultationmixed methodsdata integrationPublic aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENFrontiers in Public Health, Vol 9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	COVID-19 pandemic healthcare quality telehealth teleconsultation mixed methods data integration Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	COVID-19 pandemic healthcare quality telehealth teleconsultation mixed methods data integration Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Ghadah A. Al-Sharif Alia A. Almulla Eman AlMerashi Reem Alqutami Mohammad Almoosa Mona Zakaria Hegazi Farah Otaki Samuel B. Ho Samuel B. Ho Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception
description	Background: The onset of the pandemic necessitated abrupt transition to telehealth consultations. Although there is a few tools that gauge the patients' perception about their experiences, none of them are contextualized to an emergency in the Middle East and North Africa region. Accordingly, this study aims at developing and validating a tool to address this gap, and deploying it to assess the patients' perception of telehealth services during COVID-19 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: A convergent mixed methods design was adapted. A random selection of 100 patients from Dubai, UAE were invited to participate. Qualitative and quantitative datasets were collected using a tailor-made survey. The qualitative data, collected through open-ended questions, was analyzed using multi-staged thematic analysis. As for the quantitative data, it captured the patients' extent of satisfaction, and was assessed using SPSS (with a series of descriptive and inferential analyses). The qualitative and quantitative findings were then merged via joint display analysis.Results: Out of the 100 patients that were randomly selected, 94 patients participated in this study. The reliability score of Cronbach's Alpha for the instrument was 98.9%. The percentage of the total average of satisfaction was 80.67%. The Principal Component Analysis showed that 88.1% of the variance can be explained by the instrument (p < 0.001). The qualitative data analysis expanded upon the quantitative findings enabling a better understanding of the patients' perception. Three themes, revolving around the quality of the patient telehealth experiences, surfaced: “Factors that worked to the benefit of the patients,” “Factors that the patients were not in favor of,” and “Opportunities for improvements as perceived by the patients.”Discussion: This study introduced a novel patient satisfaction with telehealth consultation survey contextualized to the COVID-19 times in Dubai, UAE. The participants were quite satisfied with the quality of their experience, however they suggested areas for improvement. Regional healthcare decision-makers can leverage the identified advantages and opportunities for improvement of telehealth. This will enable making informed decisions regarding the continuity of telehealth irrespective of how matters unfold in relation to the pandemic. It will also better prepare the healthcare sector for potential resurgence(s) of COVID-19 and/or the occurrence of other similar emergencies.
format	article
author	Ghadah A. Al-Sharif Alia A. Almulla Eman AlMerashi Reem Alqutami Mohammad Almoosa Mona Zakaria Hegazi Farah Otaki Samuel B. Ho Samuel B. Ho
author_facet	Ghadah A. Al-Sharif Alia A. Almulla Eman AlMerashi Reem Alqutami Mohammad Almoosa Mona Zakaria Hegazi Farah Otaki Samuel B. Ho Samuel B. Ho
author_sort	Ghadah A. Al-Sharif
title	Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception
title_short	Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception
title_full	Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception
title_fullStr	Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception
title_full_unstemmed	Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception
title_sort	telehealth to the rescue during covid-19: a convergent mixed methods study investigating patients' perception
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/4ffe4db55c844a678c8ccfe815dd154f
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Telehealth to the Rescue During COVID-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Investigating Patients' Perception

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