Exploring Parental Experiences of a Virtual Neuro-Disability Paediatric Outpatient Service, in the Context of a Global Pandemic

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic (COVID 19), which emerged in Ireland in early 2020, resulted in dramatic changes and challenges in both society and healthcare practices. Healthcare services had to quickly adapt to provide outpatient care by virtual means in order to reduce patient contact. We endeavoured to establish the experiences of families of children attending the neuro-disability service after a transition to virtual telephone clinic appointments during the pandemic.

Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were sent to all parents of children registered in virtual neuro-disability clinics over a ten-week period (April-June 2020). Questionnaires explored parental experiences with previous clinic appointments, current virtual clinic practice and future preferences. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected and analysed using descriptive methods.

Results: 70 parents were invited to participate. There was a 43% response rate to the questionnaire (n=30).

Parents reported a very high level of satisfaction (8.2/10) with previous face-to-face clinic appointments. There was a similarly high level of satisfaction (8.2/10) with the recent switch to virtual clinics. 97% felt they received adequate time during the virtual consultation and 90% felt they were contacted at an appropriate time of day. 86% of respondents felt their concerns were managed well and received adequate information.

Main areas of feedback included waiting room facilities, appointment scheduling, virtual call scheduling and familiarisation of clinical background prior to consultation.

Overall, 77% of parents highlighted a future preference for a combined service of both virtual and face-to-face appointments.

Discussion: While virtual clinics cannot replace the holistic approach gained from face-to-face consultations, we identified their benefits in terms of convenience and accessibility for our vulnerable population and their families. Moving forward, developing an integrated approach using both modalities, may be a novel way to potentiate satisfaction with the clinic experience and adapt to meet the needs of our patients.