Health workers' perception and emotions of teleconsultation in pediatric
cancer care
Abstract
Background and aims: During the first lockdown of the novel Coronavirus
pandemic (COVID-19), we developed a teleconsultation model to replace
in-person visits. We conducted a survey-based study with the aim to
evaluate satisfaction and emotions of health workers (HWs), to assess
the feasibility of teleconsultations and to evaluate technical issues.
Methods: This is a prospective monocentric exploratory study in which
data were collected from March until May 2020 in the Lyon Pediatric
Hematology and Oncology institute (IHOPe). We realized synchronous,
video-based consultations between HWs and pediatric patients, treated
for blood or solid malignancies or blood benign diseases. Every HW
completed an online, pseudo-anonymized questionnaire which covered
technical aspects, data concerning satisfaction, perception of the
quality of the interaction with the patient and emotions felt after the
teleconsultation. A score was calculated for each aspect. In order to
study the relationship between the scores, the correlation coefficient
method was used. Results: Eleven specialists participated in the study
and we selected 84 questionnaires. With a satisfaction rate of 74%, HWs
felt mostly calm (80%), relaxed (70%), stress-free (69%) and relieved
(65%). We calculated the following median scores: an overall
satisfaction score of 6.67 (0-10), a global feeling score of 8.79
(3.33-10.00), and a quality score of 7.34 (2.50-10.00). A strong
correlation between the quality of the teleconsultation and the
satisfaction of the HWs has been highlighted (r = 0,588). Conclusion:
Our series is an encouragingly positive experience from the perspective
of the HWs, their feelings and perceptions.