Patients' satisfaction of healthcare services and perception with in-home telerehabilitation and physiotherapists' satisfaction toward technology for post-knee arthroplasty: an embedded study in a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE

We measured the satisfaction of both patients and healthcare professionals with the technologies and services provided during in-home telerehabilitation as an alternative to conventional rehabilitation after discharge from total knee arthroplasty surgery.

METHODS

This study was embedded in a larger controlled trial where 48 community-living older adults who received total knee arthroplasty were recruited prior to discharge from acute care following surgery and randomly assigned to treatment arms (Tele and Comparison). The participants' satisfaction with the services was assessed at the end of the intervention for both groups using the Healthcare Satisfaction Questionnaire. For the Tele group, the patients' perception of in-home telehealth was assessed before treatment and after completion of teletreatments. The satisfaction of the healthcare professionals with the technology during the telerehabilitation services was noted at the end of each treatment session using a technical quality subjective appreciation questionnaire.

RESULTS

Both groups of patients (Tele and Comparison) were satisfied with the services received and no significant difference was observed between them. Moreover, the physiotherapists' satisfaction with regard to goal achievement, patient-therapist relationship, overall session satisfaction, and quality and performance of the technological platform was high.

CONCLUSIONS

As patient satisfaction is important in maintaining motivation and treatment compliance and the satisfaction of healthcare professionals must be high in order for new treatments to become mainstream in clinics, the results show that in-home telerehabilitation seems to be a promising alternative to traditional face-to-face treatments.