Patients` Preferences Regarding Telemedicine in a Multidisciplinary Clinic for Type 1 Diabetes following the COVID-19 Pandemic
2Department of Medicine, Kaplan Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light both challenges and unique opportunities regarding type 1 diabetes (T1D) management including usage of telemedicine platforms. Between March and June 2020 during the period of the first lockdown, remote medicine almost completely replaced conventional visits. After that patients could choose how to conduct visits whether frontally or remotely.
Methods:
The study was conducted in the diabetes clinic at Kaplan Medical Center. All consecutive T1D patients during March and June 2021 were asked to fill a structured anonymous questionnaire which aimed to evaluate patients` perceptions, desires, and limitations regarding continuous use of a virtual platform.
Results:
126 T1D patients answered the questionnaire, of whom 51% were under the age of forty, half were men, half used insulin pumps and 69% continuous glucose monitors. During the pandemic, the exposure of patients to virtual visits has grown about two-fold, from 29 % to 53%. Forty-nine percent expressed an interest in future usage of a virtual platform, but most of them in a hybrid manner. We found an association between preference to use telemedicine in the future and younger age, previous virtual platform experience and confidence in being able to download data.
Conclusions:
Our data demonstrate that the COVID-19 experience led to a growing interest of T1D patients in using the hybrid format of telemedicine. However, we still need to better understand who will benefit mostly from this platform and assess its` cost-effectiveness and organization.
