Telemedicine can help physicians improve the quality of patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic and has the potential to improve physician satisfaction and reduce clinician burnout in the future. has been found in a new study.
A new study from New York’s Binghamton University School of Business highlights the increased use of telemedicine since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite some initial resistance to its use, the study found that telemedicine not only improves the quality of patient care, but also improves physician satisfaction.
“Before the pandemic, in-person physician visits were the norm, and physicians used telemedicine sparingly, and it was not often considered mainstream practice. This is true because they have been trained without ever touching the tools,” Sumantra Sarkar, associate professor at Binghamton University School of Business and corresponding author of the study, said in a news release.
Sarkar said that in the early days of the pandemic, many doctors found the need to learn new telemedicine tools and technology “uncomfortable and overwhelming,” but that the need to learn new telemedicine tools and technology was “uncomfortable and overwhelming,” but the company is trying to help doctors become more comfortable using the technology. Over time, he said, his views changed.
“We thought there would be more resistance from physicians to using telemedicine, so in the age of COVID-19, we could at least serve our patients by circumventing in-person restrictions. Physicians may have determined that telemedicine would be beneficial because of the availability of these services, he said. .
“While there may have been some initial concerns about seeing a doctor online via telemedicine during the early stages of COVID-19, the U.S. health care system has long had an in-person presence. “This study confirms that physicians are satisfied with this technology, and believe that this technology will improve the quality of medical care,” the authors wrote in the study.
Researchers used data from the 2021 National Electronic Health Records Survey for their study. The data included 1,875 physicians’ responses to telemedicine-related questions. Researchers found that 65% of physicians surveyed were satisfied with their relationships with patients during telehealth visits. Telehealth features that contributed significantly to physician satisfaction included videoconferencing and telehealth platforms integrated with electronic medical records.
Although this study focused on physician care in ambulatory and office care settings, many of the findings are consistent with perceptions about telemedicine among physicians working in long-term and post-acute care settings. , and Rajeev Kumar, MD, CMD, FACP, president of the Association of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Physicians.
Kumar said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine was not widespread among physicians in long-term care and post-acute care settings, but the pandemic He said things have changed dramatically since then, with doctors and other clinical staff becoming more comfortable using the new telemedicine technology. technology.
Kumar said telemedicine during the pandemic was “very helpful and a game changer.” “This allows doctors to practice effective medicine without increasing patient risk.”
Kumar said that since the pandemic, many nursing homes and long-term care facilities have increased the use of telemedicine, such as virtual doctor visits with patients. Some nursing homes are purchasing new technology that allows doctors to conduct virtual physical exams, including remote monitoring devices that allow doctors to check patients’ vital signs, lungs and heart.
Now that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, the use of telemedicine will continue to grow, especially for routine doctor visits in rural areas where physician numbers are limited, or when an expert opinion is needed but is difficult to obtain. Kumar expects that to continue. To schedule in-person care.
“Telemedicine is not a replacement for in-person care,” he says. “We’re seeing it being used appropriately for the right patients, in the right environment, at the right time.Telemedicine is now available to patients who need urgent care, after-hours care, or specialty care. It has become.”
