Patient and Provider Perspectives on Pediatric Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid expansion of telemedicine services. We surveyed parent/guardians from March 10 to June 29, 2020, in an academic and community pediatric practice, and community pediatric providers from June 5 to July 13, 2020, to better understand their perceptions of telemedicine and compare parent/guardian satisfaction between in-person and telemedicine encounters. Overall patient satisfaction scores were high in both settings and did not differ between in-person and telemedicine visits (community setting: 93.36 ± 12.87 in-person vs. 88.04 ± 22.04 telemedicine; academic setting: 92.25 ± 11.2 vs. 95.37 ± 8.21). Most providers (82.5%) would be willing to use telemedicine in a nonpandemic situation. Telemedicine should remain available for primary care pediatrics during and after resolution of the pandemic.