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Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study

SUMMARY: This study sought to understand patient experiences, benefits, and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine. Telemedicine bridges the access gap to specialized osteoporosis care in remote areas. Improving coordination of investigations, access to allied health mem...

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Autores principales: Palcu, P., Munce, S., Jaglal, S. B., Allin, S., Chishtie, J. A., Silverstein, A., Kim, S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer London 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7010610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31760454
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00198-019-05182-5
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author Palcu, P.
Munce, S.
Jaglal, S. B.
Allin, S.
Chishtie, J. A.
Silverstein, A.
Kim, S.
author_facet Palcu, P.
Munce, S.
Jaglal, S. B.
Allin, S.
Chishtie, J. A.
Silverstein, A.
Kim, S.
author_sort Palcu, P.
collection PubMed
description SUMMARY: This study sought to understand patient experiences, benefits, and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine. Telemedicine bridges the access gap to specialized osteoporosis care in remote areas. Improving coordination of investigations, access to allied health members, and future initiatives may improve osteoporosis-related morbidity and mortality in this population. INTRODUCTION: There is limited research on the role of telemedicine (TM) in the management of osteoporosis (OP). We previously reported that OP patients assessed by TM had a higher prevalence of fragility fractures, co-morbidities, and need for allied health resources than those serviced by the outpatient clinic. The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences, benefits, and challenges associated with receiving OP care by TM from the patient perspective. METHODS: We adopted a convergent, mixed methods study design whereby both a quantitative component (mailed survey) and qualitative component (30-min telephone interviews) were conducted simultaneously. In addition to reporting survey data, thematic analysis was applied to interview data. RESULTS: Participants were comfortable with virtual technology and perceived that their quality of care by TM was comparable to in-person visits. Expressed benefits included the convenience of timely care close to home, reduced burden of travel and costs, and enhanced sense of confidence with being assessed by an osteoporosis specialist. Perceived barriers included poor follow-up with allied health professionals in the TM program (e.g., physiotherapist) and coordination of tests and investigations. Many participants indicated interest in an OP self-management program, with content focusing on diet and lifestyle factors. CONCLUSION: The TM program bridges the access gap for those living with OP in underserviced and remote areas. However, we identified the need to improve the existing processes to better coordinate access to allied health team members and arrangements for investigations. Participants also expressed interest for a virtual osteoporosis self-management program. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00198-019-05182-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-70106102020-02-24 Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study Palcu, P. Munce, S. Jaglal, S. B. Allin, S. Chishtie, J. A. Silverstein, A. Kim, S. Osteoporos Int Original Article SUMMARY: This study sought to understand patient experiences, benefits, and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine. Telemedicine bridges the access gap to specialized osteoporosis care in remote areas. Improving coordination of investigations, access to allied health members, and future initiatives may improve osteoporosis-related morbidity and mortality in this population. INTRODUCTION: There is limited research on the role of telemedicine (TM) in the management of osteoporosis (OP). We previously reported that OP patients assessed by TM had a higher prevalence of fragility fractures, co-morbidities, and need for allied health resources than those serviced by the outpatient clinic. The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences, benefits, and challenges associated with receiving OP care by TM from the patient perspective. METHODS: We adopted a convergent, mixed methods study design whereby both a quantitative component (mailed survey) and qualitative component (30-min telephone interviews) were conducted simultaneously. In addition to reporting survey data, thematic analysis was applied to interview data. RESULTS: Participants were comfortable with virtual technology and perceived that their quality of care by TM was comparable to in-person visits. Expressed benefits included the convenience of timely care close to home, reduced burden of travel and costs, and enhanced sense of confidence with being assessed by an osteoporosis specialist. Perceived barriers included poor follow-up with allied health professionals in the TM program (e.g., physiotherapist) and coordination of tests and investigations. Many participants indicated interest in an OP self-management program, with content focusing on diet and lifestyle factors. CONCLUSION: The TM program bridges the access gap for those living with OP in underserviced and remote areas. However, we identified the need to improve the existing processes to better coordinate access to allied health team members and arrangements for investigations. Participants also expressed interest for a virtual osteoporosis self-management program. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00198-019-05182-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer London 2019-11-23 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7010610/ /pubmed/31760454 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00198-019-05182-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Original Article
Palcu, P.
Munce, S.
Jaglal, S. B.
Allin, S.
Chishtie, J. A.
Silverstein, A.
Kim, S.
Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
title Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
title_full Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
title_fullStr Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
title_full_unstemmed Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
title_short Understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
title_sort understanding patient experiences and challenges to osteoporosis care delivered virtually by telemedicine: a mixed methods study
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7010610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31760454
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00198-019-05182-5
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