Jabour Abdulrahman M
Department of Public Health, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Digit Health. 2024 Dec 12;10:20552076241305284. doi: 10.1177/20552076241305284. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
The rise of telemedicine has brought significant changes to patient care, especially regarding the experience of empathy and connection during consultations. Understanding how telemedicine compares to in-person visits in terms of patient-physician interactions and the perception of empathy is crucial for optimizing telehealth services.
This study aims to compare patient-physician interaction ratings between telemedicine and in-person visits across the 10 items of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure. Additionally, it seeks to identify any significant differences in interaction ratings between male and female patients within these contexts.
A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 320 participants who had either telemedicine or in-person consultations. Participants were assigned to the telehealth or in-person group based on the type of consultation they experienced. The CARE measure was utilized to capture patient's perspective of the quality of the interaction. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the ratings between the two groups.
The study found no significant differences in overall CARE measure ratings between telemedicine and in-person visits. However, male patients reported higher satisfaction with telemedicine on several items compared to in-person visits, whereas female patients showed no significant differences in their ratings.
Telemedicine is as effective as in-person visits in maintaining high-quality patient-physician interactions. The findings also suggest gender-specific preferences that could inform the optimization of telemedicine practices. Further research is recommended to explore these differences in more diverse populations.
远程医疗的兴起给患者护理带来了重大变化，尤其是在会诊期间的同理心体验和联系方面。了解远程医疗与面对面就诊在医患互动以及同理心感知方面的比较，对于优化远程医疗服务至关重要。
本研究旨在比较远程医疗和面对面就诊在会诊与关系同理心（CARE）量表的10个项目上的医患互动评分。此外，它还试图确定在这些情况下男性和女性患者之间互动评分的任何显著差异。
进行了一项横断面研究，涉及320名进行过远程医疗或面对面会诊的参与者。根据他们所经历的会诊类型，将参与者分配到远程医疗组或面对面组。使用CARE量表来获取患者对互动质量的看法。进行统计分析以比较两组之间的评分。
研究发现，远程医疗和面对面就诊在CARE量表总体评分上没有显著差异。然而，与面对面就诊相比，男性患者在几个项目上对远程医疗的满意度更高，而女性患者的评分没有显著差异。
远程医疗在维持高质量医患互动方面与面对面就诊一样有效。研究结果还表明了特定性别的偏好，这可为优化远程医疗实践提供参考。建议进一步开展研究，以在更多样化的人群中探索这些差异。
