Challenges Faced by Community Health Officers and Beneficiary Satisfaction Related to Telemedicine Services at Health and Wellness Centers: A Mixed-method Study from a Block of West Bengal.

Abstract

Telemedicine services by community health officers (CHOs) at health and wellness centers (HWCs) in West Bengal were introduced to provide specialist doctors' consultation, faster diagnosis, free treatment, and universal health coverage in rural areas to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases. The challenges and beneficiary satisfaction related to these services are yet to be evaluated. This study was conducted to explore the challenges faced by the CHOs and find out the factors associated with beneficiary satisfaction related to telemedicine services. A mixed-method study with convergent parallel design was conducted among 6 CHOs and 101 beneficiaries attending the HWCs for telemedicine services at Budge Budge-II block, West Bengal, from June to July 2022. Quantitative data were collected using predesigned, pretested, prestructured schedules by face-to-face interview, while one focus-group discussion was conducted among CHOs for qualitative data. Out of 101 beneficiaries, 71.3% were 31-60 years of age, 53.5% were females, and 53.4% were educated at least to the secondary level. 71.3% beneficiaries stated that the average time taken for telemedicine consultation was up to 30 minutes. The challenges faced by the CHOs included doctors' unavailability at a particular time of the day, technical issues with the service portal, time crunch, and meeting the daily fixed patient target. Beneficiary satisfaction was significantly associated with the availability of doctors and time taken for the consultation. The overall satisfaction index of the beneficiaries was 55.8%. Quality services along with beneficiary satisfaction can be improved by ensuring doctors' availability, user-friendly service portals, and appropriate time for each consultation.