Raiker Ashna, Johnkutty Meenu, Ruiz Ambar, Phillips Jedan, Earle Melissa J
Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
Department of Family, Population, and Preventative Medicine, Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
Telemed Rep. 2024 Aug 19;5(1):263-268. doi: 10.1089/tmr.2024.0036. eCollection 2024.
Telehealth has untapped potential to improve health care for underserved communities. However, it remains underutilized, limiting opportunities to improve continuity of care and health care outcomes. This pilot study investigates attitudes and barriers to telehealth at Stony Brook HOME, Renaissance School of Medicine's student-run free-health clinic in Suffolk County, NY.
Surveys ( = 100) were electronically administered bimonthly during clinic waiting room time from May 2022 to August 2023 in both English (40%) and Spanish (60%). Surveys collected information on patient demographics, perceived patient barriers and attitudes to telehealth, and technological comfort levels.
Most patients were Hispanic/Latino (68%), female (54%), and 40-60 years old (52%). Spanish speakers often come from high social vulnerability regions. English speakers were more likely to own a smartphone, computer, or tablet than Spanish speakers ( = 0.046). English speakers reported higher levels of technological comfort using a smartphone or tablet ( = 0.0033) and using it for their health care ( = 0.03). Finally, 100% of English speakers reported reliable internet access compared to 66.7% of Spanish speakers.
These results demonstrate that barriers to telehealth are being disproportionately felt by Spanish speakers, thus necessitating survey-directed interventions to address this disparity.
远程医疗在改善服务不足社区的医疗保健方面具有尚未开发的潜力。然而，它的利用率仍然很低，限制了改善医疗连续性和医疗结果的机会。这项试点研究调查了纽约州萨福克县文艺复兴医学院学生运营的免费健康诊所石溪之家（Stony Brook HOME）对远程医疗的态度和障碍。
2022年5月至2023年8月期间，在诊所候诊时间每两个月通过电子方式进行一次调查（n = 100），调查语言为英语（40%）和西班牙语（60%）。调查收集了患者人口统计学信息、患者感知到的障碍和对远程医疗的态度以及技术舒适度水平。
大多数患者为西班牙裔/拉丁裔（68%）、女性（54%），年龄在40 - 60岁之间（52%）。说西班牙语的患者通常来自社会脆弱性高的地区。说英语的患者比说西班牙语的患者更有可能拥有智能手机、电脑或平板电脑（p = 0.046）。说英语的患者报告使用智能手机或平板电脑的技术舒适度更高（p = 0.0033），并且使用它们进行医疗保健的舒适度也更高（p = 0.03）。最后，100%的说英语的患者报告有可靠的互联网接入，而说西班牙语的患者这一比例为66.7%。
这些结果表明，说西班牙语的患者不成比例地感受到了远程医疗的障碍，因此需要针对调查结果进行干预以解决这种差异。
