Impact of digital-first technologies on quality and safety of care

Ana Luisa Neves, Joana Carvalho, On Behalf Of The Insight Group

Keywords: Primary care, digital health, telemedicine

Background:

In recent decades, virtual care has emerged as a promising option to support primary care delivery. However, despite the potential, adoption rates remained low. With the outbreak of COVID-19, it has suddenly been pushed to the forefront of care delivery. There is a need and opportunity to review the impact remote care had in primary care settings and reassess its potential future role.

Research questions:

The aim of this study is to explore the perspectives of general practitioners (GPs) and family doctors on the perceived impact on quality and safety of care.

Method:

Online cross-sectional questionnaire completed by GPs distributed across 20 countries. The survey was hosted in Qualtrics and distributed using email, social media, and the researchers' personal contact networks. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed for quantitative variables.

Results:

1,600 GPs across 20 countries were included. Most GPs saw a positive impact on the transmission of COVID-19 (n = 1123, 93.9%), monitoring infected patients (n = 880, 73.6%), delivering remote acute care (n = 758, 63.4%), managing patients with chronic conditions (n = 674, 56.4%), delivering acutecare (n = 788, 65.9%), supporting patient-doctor relationships (n = 715, 59.8%), and communicating with other providers (n = 607, 50.8%). Fewer reported positive impacts when it came to patient satisfaction (n = 586, 49.1%), identifying the need to escalate care (n= 567, 47.5%) harmful delays (n = 476, 39.8%), providing equitable care for all (n = 461, 38.5%) and the gauging patients’ emotional wellbeing (n = 450, 37.7%).

Conclusions:

From acting as the first point of contact with healthcare services for most patients, to being the gatekeepers to further specialist care, GPs’ experiences using virtual care tools to perform this diverse range of tasks allow us a more comprehensive understanding as to the practical implementation benefits and challenges that accompany their routine use.

Points for discussion: