Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center

Providers and healthcare organizations have created novel ways of evaluating patients using telehealth. Patient volumes in urgent cares (UCs) and emergency departments (EDs) continue to climb, contributing to longer wait times and suboptimal patient and family experiences (PFEs). Optimizing use of t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abigail Gauthier, Callie Krentz, Shiran Chan, Michelle Widecan, Adam Vukovic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Beryl Institute 2024-08-01
Series:Patient Experience Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pxjournal.org/journal/vol11/iss2/10
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841554103233150976
author Abigail Gauthier
Callie Krentz
Shiran Chan
Michelle Widecan
Adam Vukovic
author_facet Abigail Gauthier
Callie Krentz
Shiran Chan
Michelle Widecan
Adam Vukovic
author_sort Abigail Gauthier
collection DOAJ
description Providers and healthcare organizations have created novel ways of evaluating patients using telehealth. Patient volumes in urgent cares (UCs) and emergency departments (EDs) continue to climb, contributing to longer wait times and suboptimal patient and family experiences (PFEs). Optimizing use of telehealth may not only impact PFE of those evaluated virtually, but also reduce crowding in EDs and UCs, indirectly impacting PFE in those spaces as well. The purpose of this study is to identify any association between telehealth encounters and PFE scores. This is a retrospective review of patients seen via telehealth in virtual urgent care, UC, or the ED who completed a post-visit PFE survey. Data were extracted from our electronic health record and our experience survey platform. We generated descriptive statistics of our patient populations seeking care at all three site categories who were treated for specific diagnoses. We performed univariate and multivariate analysis to identify independent associations between encounter characteristics and PFE scores. While encounter location was not independently associated with PFE scores, the interaction between wait time and location of service favors use of telehealth services for low-acuity patients by improving the healthcare experience for these patients and families.
format Article
id doaj-art-6aa6b12a39dd40f5aa1367570fe1ac9e
institution Kabale University
issn 2372-0247
language English
publishDate 2024-08-01
publisher The Beryl Institute
record_format Article
series Patient Experience Journal
spelling doaj-art-6aa6b12a39dd40f5aa1367570fe1ac9e2025-01-08T20:18:38ZengThe Beryl InstitutePatient Experience Journal2372-02472024-08-0111210.35680/2372-0247.1959Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care CenterAbigail GauthierCallie KrentzShiran ChanMichelle WidecanAdam VukovicProviders and healthcare organizations have created novel ways of evaluating patients using telehealth. Patient volumes in urgent cares (UCs) and emergency departments (EDs) continue to climb, contributing to longer wait times and suboptimal patient and family experiences (PFEs). Optimizing use of telehealth may not only impact PFE of those evaluated virtually, but also reduce crowding in EDs and UCs, indirectly impacting PFE in those spaces as well. The purpose of this study is to identify any association between telehealth encounters and PFE scores. This is a retrospective review of patients seen via telehealth in virtual urgent care, UC, or the ED who completed a post-visit PFE survey. Data were extracted from our electronic health record and our experience survey platform. We generated descriptive statistics of our patient populations seeking care at all three site categories who were treated for specific diagnoses. We performed univariate and multivariate analysis to identify independent associations between encounter characteristics and PFE scores. While encounter location was not independently associated with PFE scores, the interaction between wait time and location of service favors use of telehealth services for low-acuity patients by improving the healthcare experience for these patients and families.https://pxjournal.org/journal/vol11/iss2/10telehealthemergency departmenturgent carepediatricspatient family experience
spellingShingle Abigail Gauthier
Callie Krentz
Shiran Chan
Michelle Widecan
Adam Vukovic
Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center
Patient Experience Journal
telehealth
emergency department
urgent care
pediatrics
patient family experience
title Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center
title_full Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center
title_fullStr Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center
title_full_unstemmed Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center
title_short Examining the Impact of Telehealth Visits on Patient and Family Experience in a Pediatric Emergency and Urgent Care Center
title_sort examining the impact of telehealth visits on patient and family experience in a pediatric emergency and urgent care center
topic telehealth
emergency department
urgent care
pediatrics
patient family experience
url https://pxjournal.org/journal/vol11/iss2/10
work_keys_str_mv AT abigailgauthier examiningtheimpactoftelehealthvisitsonpatientandfamilyexperienceinapediatricemergencyandurgentcarecenter
AT calliekrentz examiningtheimpactoftelehealthvisitsonpatientandfamilyexperienceinapediatricemergencyandurgentcarecenter
AT shiranchan examiningtheimpactoftelehealthvisitsonpatientandfamilyexperienceinapediatricemergencyandurgentcarecenter
AT michellewidecan examiningtheimpactoftelehealthvisitsonpatientandfamilyexperienceinapediatricemergencyandurgentcarecenter
AT adamvukovic examiningtheimpactoftelehealthvisitsonpatientandfamilyexperienceinapediatricemergencyandurgentcarecenter