TY - JOUR
T1 - Implications of telehealth services for healthcare delivery and access in rural and remote communities
T2 - Perceptions of patients and general practitioners
AU - Sutarsa, I. Nyoman
AU - Kasim, Rosny
AU - Steward, Ben
AU - Bain-Donohue, Suzanne
AU - Slimings, Claudia
AU - Hall Dykgraaf, Sally
AU - Barnard, Amanda
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Authors
PY - 2022/8/3
Y1 - 2022/8/3
N2 - Background: Accelerated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Australia has shifted towards greater use of telehealth to deliver care for rural and remote communities. This policy direction might risk a shift away from the traditional model of informed person-centred care built around care relationships to a technology-mediated health transaction. Potential opportunity costs of widespread telehealth services on the quality of care for rural and remote communities remain understudied.Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in three local health districts of rural New South Wales, Australia. Data were collected through in-depth interviews. A total of 13 participants was interviewed. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Patient participants perceived telehealth as an alternative when specialist care was limited or absent. Both patients and clinicians perceived that the deeper caring relationship, enabled through face-to-face interactions, could not be achieved through telehealth services alone, and that telehealth services are often superficial and fragmented in nature. Patients in this study contended that virtual consultations can be distant and lacking in personal touch, and risk losing sight of social circumstances related to patients’ health, thereby affecting the trust placed in healthcare systems.Conclusions: Simply replacing face-to-face interactions with telehealth services has the potential to reduce trust, continuity of care, and effectiveness of rural health services. Telehealth must be used to assist local clinicians in providing the best possible care to rural and remote patients within an integrated service delivery model across diverse rural contexts in Australia.
AB - Background: Accelerated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Australia has shifted towards greater use of telehealth to deliver care for rural and remote communities. This policy direction might risk a shift away from the traditional model of informed person-centred care built around care relationships to a technology-mediated health transaction. Potential opportunity costs of widespread telehealth services on the quality of care for rural and remote communities remain understudied.Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in three local health districts of rural New South Wales, Australia. Data were collected through in-depth interviews. A total of 13 participants was interviewed. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Patient participants perceived telehealth as an alternative when specialist care was limited or absent. Both patients and clinicians perceived that the deeper caring relationship, enabled through face-to-face interactions, could not be achieved through telehealth services alone, and that telehealth services are often superficial and fragmented in nature. Patients in this study contended that virtual consultations can be distant and lacking in personal touch, and risk losing sight of social circumstances related to patients’ health, thereby affecting the trust placed in healthcare systems.Conclusions: Simply replacing face-to-face interactions with telehealth services has the potential to reduce trust, continuity of care, and effectiveness of rural health services. Telehealth must be used to assist local clinicians in providing the best possible care to rural and remote patients within an integrated service delivery model across diverse rural contexts in Australia.
KW - continuity of patient care
KW - delivery of health care
KW - health services
KW - health system and policy
KW - healthcare disparities
KW - integrated care
KW - rural health services
KW - telehealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136218333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1071/PY21162
DO - 10.1071/PY21162
M3 - Article
SN - 1448-7527
VL - 28
SP - 522
EP - 528
JO - Australian Journal of Primary Health
JF - Australian Journal of Primary Health
IS - 6
ER -