Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UHasselt - Hasselt University, Agoralaan, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
Department of Cardiology, Jessa Hospital, Hasselt, Belgium.
Acta Cardiol. 2021 Apr;76(2):151-157. doi: 10.1080/00015385.2020.1846920. Epub 2020 Nov 13.
The first surge of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of all non-urgent medical services such as cardiac rehabilitation. Therefore, centres had to develop remote and innovative ways to deliver the core components of CR during this shutdown. This increase in usage of remote rehabilitation services provides a chance to assess patients' experiences and willingness-to-pay of remote CR sessions.
This was a prospective single-centre study. From 17 July 2020, to 19 August 2020, we conducted an anonymous survey about the patient experiences of the cardiac telerehabilitation services provided at Jessa Hospital Hasselt during the COVID-19 pandemic. A link to an electronic questionnaire was sent email to 155 patients who were invited to participate in the cardiac telerehabilitation sessions during the closure of the rehabilitation centre due to COVID-19.
Fifty-five patients (35% of all invited patients) did participate in remote CR and completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the respondents was 65.4 ± 10.5 years, 63% were male and 70% of the participants were retired. A total of 91% possessed a smartphone and all those patients used their smartphone regularly to send text messages. Ninety-four per cent of the participants were satisfied with the provided telerehabilitation sessions and 70% of the participants would be prepared to pay for these sessions like for centre-based CR sessions. Twenty per cent of patients would even prefer the telerehabilitation sessions above centre-based CR sessions.
Most patients believed that remote CR could be an option after the COVID-19 pandemic when it is combined with centre-based CR sessions. Patients are willing to pay the same amount for a telerehabilitation session as a centre-based CR session. This demonstrates that highly motivated patients are open to shift certain parts of CR from face-to-face interactions to digital interactions.
当前 COVID-19 大流行的第一波浪潮导致所有非紧急医疗服务（如心脏康复）关闭。因此，各中心必须在关闭期间开发远程和创新的方式来提供 CR 的核心组成部分。远程康复服务的使用增加为评估患者对远程 CR 治疗的体验和支付意愿提供了机会。
这是一项前瞻性单中心研究。从 2020 年 7 月 17 日至 8 月 19 日，我们对在 COVID-19 大流行期间，哈塞尔特杰西医院提供的心脏远程康复服务的患者体验进行了一项匿名调查。向因 COVID-19 关闭康复中心而受邀参加心脏远程康复治疗的 155 名患者发送了一封电子邮件，其中包含远程康复电子问卷的链接。
共有 55 名患者（受邀患者的 35%）参与了远程 CR 并完成了问卷。受访者的平均年龄为 65.4±10.5 岁，63%为男性，70%的参与者已退休。共有 91%的人拥有智能手机，所有这些患者都定期使用智能手机发送短信。94%的参与者对提供的远程康复治疗表示满意，70%的参与者愿意为这些治疗支付与中心基础 CR 治疗相同的费用。20%的患者甚至更喜欢远程康复治疗而不是中心基础 CR 治疗。
大多数患者认为，在 COVID-19 大流行之后，如果将远程 CR 与中心基础 CR 治疗相结合，远程 CR 可能是一种选择。患者愿意为远程康复治疗支付与中心基础 CR 治疗相同的费用。这表明，积极性高的患者愿意将 CR 的某些部分从面对面互动转移到数字互动。
