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“I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the health care system, resulting in decreased health care utilization. During the pandemic, some patients chose to postpone clinic visits or avoid them altogether while health care providers concurrently scaled back their services. As a result, health care has sh...

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Autores principales: Moore, Ramey, Purvis, Rachel S., Hallgren, Emily, Reece, Sharon, Padilla-Ramos, Alan, Gurel-Headley, Morgan, Hall, Spencer, McElfish, Pearl A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9370251/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35960102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000029439
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author Moore, Ramey
Purvis, Rachel S.
Hallgren, Emily
Reece, Sharon
Padilla-Ramos, Alan
Gurel-Headley, Morgan
Hall, Spencer
McElfish, Pearl A.
author_facet Moore, Ramey
Purvis, Rachel S.
Hallgren, Emily
Reece, Sharon
Padilla-Ramos, Alan
Gurel-Headley, Morgan
Hall, Spencer
McElfish, Pearl A.
author_sort Moore, Ramey
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the health care system, resulting in decreased health care utilization. During the pandemic, some patients chose to postpone clinic visits or avoid them altogether while health care providers concurrently scaled back their services. As a result, health care has shifted to a greater reliance on telehealth and virtual care. This study uses a qualitative descriptive design, focused on providing summaries of participant experiences of health care and telehealth utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three primary themes emerged during analysis: delayed health care, avoidance of care, and experiences of telehealth. Sub-themes of delayed health care included care delays and scheduling difficulties. Participants reported avoidance of health care due to fear of COVID-19 infection, as well as general changes to care-seeking behaviors. Participants also reported positive experiences with telehealth, with some respondents noting limitations of telehealth systems, such as limitations on procedures and patient-centered monitoring of chronic illness. Our findings support studies that have found both health care delays and changes in health care utilization patterns during the pandemic. Most importantly, this study expands the literature concerning links between fear of COVID-19 and altered care-seeking behaviors, which is the first study to do so focusing on these concerns in the participants’ own words. Finally, while telehealth is promising in preserving continuity of care during pandemics, long-term integration into the health care system is not without challenges, and this study provides insights into how patients experienced telehealth during COVID-19 in their own words. Data collection, survey design, and research priorities for this study were based on input from ongoing community partnerships.
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spelling pubmed-93702512022-08-12 “I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic Moore, Ramey Purvis, Rachel S. Hallgren, Emily Reece, Sharon Padilla-Ramos, Alan Gurel-Headley, Morgan Hall, Spencer McElfish, Pearl A. Medicine (Baltimore) Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the health care system, resulting in decreased health care utilization. During the pandemic, some patients chose to postpone clinic visits or avoid them altogether while health care providers concurrently scaled back their services. As a result, health care has shifted to a greater reliance on telehealth and virtual care. This study uses a qualitative descriptive design, focused on providing summaries of participant experiences of health care and telehealth utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three primary themes emerged during analysis: delayed health care, avoidance of care, and experiences of telehealth. Sub-themes of delayed health care included care delays and scheduling difficulties. Participants reported avoidance of health care due to fear of COVID-19 infection, as well as general changes to care-seeking behaviors. Participants also reported positive experiences with telehealth, with some respondents noting limitations of telehealth systems, such as limitations on procedures and patient-centered monitoring of chronic illness. Our findings support studies that have found both health care delays and changes in health care utilization patterns during the pandemic. Most importantly, this study expands the literature concerning links between fear of COVID-19 and altered care-seeking behaviors, which is the first study to do so focusing on these concerns in the participants’ own words. Finally, while telehealth is promising in preserving continuity of care during pandemics, long-term integration into the health care system is not without challenges, and this study provides insights into how patients experienced telehealth during COVID-19 in their own words. Data collection, survey design, and research priorities for this study were based on input from ongoing community partnerships. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2022-08-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9370251/ /pubmed/35960102 http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000029439 Text en Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License 4.0 (CCBY-NC) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , where it is permissible to download, share, remix, transform, and buildup the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be used commercially without permission from the journal.
spellingShingle Research Article
Moore, Ramey
Purvis, Rachel S.
Hallgren, Emily
Reece, Sharon
Padilla-Ramos, Alan
Gurel-Headley, Morgan
Hall, Spencer
McElfish, Pearl A.
“I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
title “I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full “I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr “I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed “I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short “I am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: A qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort “i am hesitant to visit the doctor unless absolutely necessary”: a qualitative study of delayed care, avoidance of care, and telehealth experiences during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9370251/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35960102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000029439
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