Lundahl Lauren, Powell Lauren, Reinhard Chelsea L, Healey Eleni, Watson Brittany
School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Front Vet Sci. 2022 Apr 25;9:871928. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.871928. eCollection 2022.
Cost and transportation are two commonly cited barriers to accessing health care in both human and veterinary medicine within underserved communities. While human medicine has utilized telehealth as a means of breaking down this barrier, limited research exists to describe its use in veterinary medicine. The Pets for Life (PFL) program has partnered with the Penn Vet Shelter Medicine Program to provide veterinary appointments to clients, at no cost to the client, in underserved zip codes through virtual telehealth visits. These visits incorporated veterinary students as part of their clinical rotations through a service learning based model. Between January and August 2021, 31 PFL clients and nine veterinary students completed surveys to describe the role of telehealth in addressing barriers to accessing veterinary care, their perceptions of telehealth appointments, the human-animal bond, and changes in veterinary student empathy. PFL clients completed the survey immediately following their telehealth appointment, and veterinary students completed surveys prior to and following their participation in the PFL appointments during the rotation. Nearly 25% of clients reported that they would not have been able to secure transportation and 58% reported they would not have been able to afford an appointment at an in-person veterinary clinic. The population of clients who responded that cost was a significant barrier to accessing care did not entirely overlap with those who responded that transportation was a significant barrier to accessing care, indicating support for the use of telehealth in providing an alternative modality to address transportation challenges as a barrier to accessing veterinary care. Additional data suggests that both client and student experience was overwhelmingly positive, providing support for further service learning initiatives in veterinary student education. Further research is warranted to continue to assess the emerging role of telehealth in improving veterinary care for underserved communities.
成本和交通是医疗服务不足社区在人类医学和兽医学中获得医疗保健时两个常见的障碍。虽然人类医学已将远程医疗作为打破这一障碍的一种手段，但关于其在兽医学中的应用的研究却很有限。“生命宠物”（PFL）项目已与宾夕法尼亚大学兽医学院庇护所医学项目合作，通过虚拟远程医疗访问，为医疗服务不足邮政编码地区的客户免费提供兽医预约服务。这些访问将兽医专业学生纳入其临床轮转，采用基于服务学习的模式。在2021年1月至8月期间，31名PFL客户和9名兽医专业学生完成了调查，以描述远程医疗在解决获得兽医护理障碍方面的作用、他们对远程医疗预约的看法、人宠关系以及兽医专业学生同理心的变化。PFL客户在远程医疗预约后立即完成了调查，兽医专业学生在轮转期间参与PFL预约之前和之后完成了调查。近25%的客户表示他们无法解决交通问题，58%的客户表示他们负担不起在实体兽医诊所的预约费用。认为成本是获得护理的重大障碍的客户群体与认为交通是获得护理的重大障碍的客户群体并不完全重叠，这表明支持使用远程医疗作为一种替代方式来解决交通挑战这一获得兽医护理的障碍。其他数据表明客户和学生的体验总体上是积极的，这为兽医专业学生教育中的进一步服务学习倡议提供了支持。有必要进行进一步研究，以继续评估远程医疗在改善医疗服务不足社区的兽医护理方面的新作用。
