Authors (including presenting author) :
Man K L (1), Cheung Y M (2), Wong L Y (2), Kwok K M (1), Chang M Y (1), Mak H K Calvin (1),
Lau C K A (3), Cheng W W (3)
Affiliation :
1. Department of Neurosurgery, QEH
2. Ambulatory Care Centre, QEH
3. Department of Information Technology, QEH
Introduction :
The impact of Covid 19 has made stress on the health care system since early 2020. For prevention of congestion and social distancing in specialty clinic, the mode of consultation also has been considered as virtual. Therefore, a trial run on telehealth service with IT support has been set up rapidly since April 2020 in QEH. With headquarter support, the portal for telehealth service corporate with HA GO in CMS system in April 2021.
Objectives :
To identify the benefit and limitation on the telehealth service
To obtain patient’s view on telehealth service
To obtain staff feedback
To identify improvement area
Methodology :
A satisfaction survey has been conducted in December 2021. The target group was patient got telehealth service in Ambulatory Care Center from April to December 2021.
Result & Outcome :
Result:
Total 72 cases were recruited with 62.5% in female and 37.5% in male. Specialty location were 11.1% in neurosurgery and 88.9% in Cardiac Thoracic Surgery. The majority group (98.6%) was patient received telehealth service with 1-2 times. For technical issue, the smooth running of the telehealth portal including payment, drug arrangement and consultation obtained nearly 96% with agree. Clear instruction and well nurse support for telehealth also achieved nearly 96%. For consultation issue, 95% of cases agreed to have appropriate queuing time and acceptable consultation. All cases (100%) agreed to save travelling time and queuing time. But only 59% of cases agreed to save registration time. Overall satisfaction to telehealth service and virtual consultation better than clinic consultation maintained at 97%. They expressed their important concern aspect were convenience (99%), payment (50%), personal privacy (41.7%) and service coverage (42%), service quality (29%). 98% of cases were willing to have subsequent follow up in telehealth and introduce to relatives / friends. For the portal system, some feedbacks were early time out, difficult for elderly use and need help for set up. On the other hand, staff feedback were frequent use of telephone for patient communication to maintain smooth running. 3% of cases had be transferred to KCC telehealth platform for support when HA Go platform had interruption.
Discussion:
Generally speaking, the result shows telehealth service is satisfied to patient. The platform so far is smooth running and easy use with nurse support. The HA GO portal need to have improvement on the technical issues. Stability of patient’s home wifi also could be considered. Convenience is the important benefit for patient.
Conclusion:
Patients accept to have telehealth service with high satisfaction. The telehealth portal need to have modification for user friendly. A further study is required to look for other aspects on telehealth service.
