Patient Satisfaction Utilizing Telehealth for Pediatric Physical and Occupational Therapy During COVID-19

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: To present the results from a patient satisfaction survey and compare patient satisfaction with in-person to telehealth delivery of pediatric physical and occupational therapy. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Outpatient pediatric rehabilitation services from a specialized New York City hospital. PARTICIPANTS: All pediatric patients, 1 month to 21 years old, receiving outpatient rehabilitation services from this hospital were sent a Q-Review survey to rate level of satisfaction with the care received. Pediatric patients, 1 month to 21 years old, who received outpatient physical and/or occupational therapy and completed the survey were included. 173 survey responses were included. INTERVENTIONS: During COVID-19 pediatric rehabilitation rapidly shifted from in-person to telehealth sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A retrospective review of survey data from April 2 to December 16, 2019 for 2 types of visits: in-person initial evaluation, in-person follow up and from April 2 to December 16, 2020 for 2 types of visits: telehealth initial evaluation, and telehealth follow up. Items were scored on a Likert scale 1-5. A score of 5 indicates "most satisfied" and 1 indicates "least satisfied." One exception was the net promoter score question, "How likely are you to refer this hospital to your friends and family?" was graded on a 10 point scale. Responders comments were collected and reviewed. Since this was a pediatric population, the parent often responded to the survey. RESULTS: A total sample of 173 survey responses for pediatric physical and occupational therapy were included. Survey collection was as follows: 46 in-person evaluation surveys, 17 telehealth evaluation surveys, 29 in-person follow up surveys, and 81 telehealth follow-up surveys. 139 surveys were for physical therapy and 34 for occupational therapy. Mean responses for in-person evaluations ranged from 4.3 - 4.8 and 4.6 - 5.0 for telehealth evaluations, indicating a trend in higher satisfaction levels with telehealth evaluations. For in-person follow ups, the mean responses ranged from 4.9 - 5.0 and 4.9 - 5.0 for telehealth follow ups showing comparable satisfaction levels. CONCLUSIONS: Telehealth can be effective to provide pediatric physical and occupational therapy while maintaining a high level of patient and parent satisfaction. AUTHOR(S) DISCLOSURES: None.