Technology Enabled Care Cymru, Aneurin Bevan Health Board, Newport, Wales, UK
Technology Enabled Care Cymru, Aneurin Bevan Health Board, Newport, Wales, UK.
BMJ Open. 2023 May 17;13(5):e068176. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068176.
Allied Health Professionals (AHP) consist of 13 different specialty roles in Wales, sharing the responsibility of promoting and supporting the health and well-being of the population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a shift in care provision, with the increased use of online consultations, such as those using video consultation platforms. However, this shift was associated with uncertainty and hesitancy, and, thus, to understand the usage and reasons for using video consultations, this study aimed to capture the experiences of both AHP and their patients, while investigating each role individually.
A survey was distributed to and completed by n=8928 patients and n=4974 clinicians, all AHP were included except for orthoptists and paramedics due to ambiguities in the data. A further 86 clinicians participated in phone interviews.
All professions had a high prevention of face-to-face with the use of video consultations (68.6% overall and 81.4% of clinicians reported the prevention). However, this was lower for certain professions such as podiatrists, potentially due to the specific patient needs, such as physical assessments. Also, a range of different appointment types were being conducted, and there was a high acceptance of these alternative methods among participants. The interviews with clinicians revealed five important aspects of video consultations: the perceived benefits, the perceived challenges, technology issues and necessary improvements, clinician preference and the future of video consulting. Specifically, the future of video consulting evidenced clinicians' desire for a blended approach to working, selecting the appropriate modality depending on the situation and patient-specific needs.
Integrating the traditional methods of service delivery (face-to-face), and novel, innovative ways, such as video consultations, can motivate positive transformations for the efficiency and efficacy of health and social care.
在威尔士，共有 13 种不同的医疗辅助专业人员（AHP）角色，共同承担促进和支持民众健康和福祉的责任。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，护理方式发生了转变，更多地使用在线咨询，例如视频咨询平台。然而，这种转变伴随着不确定性和犹豫，因此，为了了解视频咨询的使用情况和原因，本研究旨在分别捕捉 AHP 及其患者的经验。
向 n=8928 名患者和 n=4974 名临床医生分发并完成了一份调查，除了视轴矫正师和辅助医务人员，所有 AHP 都包括在内，因为数据存在模糊性。另外 86 名临床医生参加了电话访谈。
所有专业人员都高度重视通过视频咨询来避免面对面接触（总体上有 68.6%，81.4%的临床医生报告说可以预防）。然而，某些专业人员的情况较低，例如足病医生，这可能是由于特定的患者需求，如身体评估。此外，各种不同类型的预约都在进行，参与者对这些替代方法的接受度很高。对临床医生的访谈揭示了视频咨询的五个重要方面：感知到的好处、感知到的挑战、技术问题和必要的改进、临床医生偏好以及视频咨询的未来。具体来说，视频咨询的未来反映了临床医生希望采用混合工作方式的愿望，根据情况和患者特定需求选择适当的模式。
将传统的服务提供方式（面对面）与视频咨询等新颖、创新的方式相结合，可以促进医疗保健的效率和效果的积极转变。
