Health Services, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
General Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2022 Aug;58(8):1323-1329. doi: 10.1111/jpc.15974. Epub 2022 Apr 16.
To understand parental awareness and appetite for virtual health modalities, including asynchronous communication and remote monitoring. To understand which socio-demographic characteristics are associated with greater awareness and appetite for virtual health.
Nationally representative survey of Australian parents, recruited via an online panel in February 2021 as part of the Royal Children's Hospital National Child Health Poll. Participants were randomly selected from the consumer panel.
1981 (59.4% response rate) parents completed the survey. 39.9% were aware of virtual health care, defined by digital technology and medical devices to support remote monitoring. Higher levels of awareness were associated with being male, having previous teleconsultation experience, higher education attainment and employment. Most parents reported an appetite for asynchronous communication using an app or website to either provide information prior to a consult (65.9%), provide a photo of a rash or similar (61.7%) or receive medical advice (58.1%). Appetite for wearable devices was similar at 59.9%.
Whilst awareness of virtual healthcare was low, appetite exists amongst Australian parents to use technology to support their child's health care. Health-care models, which incorporate asynchronous communication or symptom monitoring through apps, are likely to be acceptable and offer an accessible and sustainable alternative to traditional face-to-face health care.
了解父母对虚拟健康模式（包括异步通信和远程监控）的认知和接受程度。了解哪些社会人口特征与对虚拟健康的更高认知和接受度相关。
这是一项全国性的澳大利亚父母调查，于 2021 年 2 月通过在线小组作为皇家儿童医院全国儿童健康民意调查的一部分进行招募。参与者是从消费者小组中随机选择的。
共有 1981 名（59.4%的回复率）父母完成了调查。39.9%的父母了解虚拟医疗保健，其定义是通过数字技术和医疗设备来支持远程监控。更高的认知度与男性、有过远程咨询经验、更高的教育程度和就业相关。大多数父母表示愿意使用应用程序或网站进行异步通信，以便在咨询前提供信息（65.9%）、提供皮疹或类似情况的照片（61.7%）或获得医疗建议（58.1%）。对可穿戴设备的需求也类似，为 59.9%。
尽管对虚拟医疗保健的认知度较低，但澳大利亚父母对使用技术来支持孩子的医疗保健存在需求。将异步通信或通过应用程序进行症状监测纳入其中的医疗保健模式可能是可以接受的，并为传统的面对面医疗保健提供了一种可及且可持续的替代方案。
