COVID-19 Pandemic and Healthcare Communication: A Patient-Centric Evaluation of Treatment and Diagnostic Procedures in Poland

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic spread extremely rapidly and required the implementation of interventions that were often chaotic or temporary, affecting both treatment and diagnostics. The aim of this study was to assess patient perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment and diagnosis process (ITDP). MATERIAL/METHODS: Data were collected in a cross-sectional study via an online survey in March 2022 from 1860 people in the general Polish population (mean age: 48.82±16.57 years) who had received medical services in the previous 24 months. A binary logistic regression model was used to identify independent factors predicting a purely negative assessment of the pandemic’s impact on the treatment and diagnosis process. RESULTS: Overall, 64.3% of the respondents rated the ITDP negatively, while 20.8% felt that the pandemic had both negative and positive effects. Of the 22 factors, 16 showed a significant association with ITDP in univariate analyses and 8 qualified for the final multivariate model. In binary logistic regression, the strongest predictors of exclusively negative ITDP perceptions were found to be impaired communication with medical personnel, which was associated with the focus on COVID-19 issues (OR=2.82; 95% CI: 2.04–3.90), and a deteriorated family financial situation during the pandemic (OR=2.03; 95% CI: 1.26–3.27). Other significant predictors of negative ITDP perceptions were viewing remote services as posing a barrier to medical communication, being better educated, and making use of self-funded private medical care. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the survey confirmed that a negative assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic’s ITDP is associated with remote provision of medical services and communication difficulties.