A study of changing trends in consumer preferences and perspectives towards health-care services during the pandemic

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a turmoil in the health-care delivery system and challenged consumers’ sense of well-being. This study examines the evolving consumer expectations and explores the key interventions that health-care providers can employ to increase engagement with consumers and prepare organisations to cope with post-pandemic challenges. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 715 randomly selected patients visiting three secondary diabetes care centres across Andhra Pradesh – Vijayawada, Tenali and Tirupati between December 2020 and January 2021. We collected participants demographic data and history of comorbidities. During lockdown, 59.3% of the respondents were concerned about health management, 63.9% expressed fear of contracting infections while visiting hospitals. Majority (70%) did not prefer visiting hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, while 18.3% reluctantly consider only if COVID-19 ward was kept isolated. Measures such as wearing personal protective equipment sanitisation and thermal screening and social distancing in outpatient settings/waiting areas were demanded by 89.7%, 84.5% and 60% of respondents, respectively. Concurrently, there is an increasing trend (from 2.8% to 24.9%) in teleconsultation. About 31.7% show an inclination to continue teleconsultations even after COVID-19 era with 51.7% recognising telemedicine as a time-saving option. Among interested patients (54%) with no prior experience of telemedicine, 41.5% reported concerns due to lack of technical equipment and improper training. About 23.1% were skeptical of effective personalised treatment. Sample collections at home (75.3%), home monitors (63.3%), medication delivery (47.3%) and telemedicine (31.7%) are preferred choices. On a real-time basis, participants are willing to share their health status-related data with their health-care team. Succumbing to the worldwide COVID-19 experience, both health-care providers and patients need to adopt and devise a ‘new normal’, a paradigm for addressing both health-care providers’ and patients’ requirements.