Young People's Experience of Virtual Outpatient Medical Appointments

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To evaluate the experience of young people aged 12-18 who had a virtual outpatient medical appointment with a healthcare professional at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (Northern Ireland), during a period of the COVID- 19 pandemic. Further, it was intended to evaluate current service delivery, and to assess youth engagement in virtual consultations. Methods: A letter was sent out to a sample of young people aged 12-18 who had attended a virtual outpatient medical appointment at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, between January and March 2021, during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Young people were invited to complete an anonymous online survey about their experience of having a virtual appointment. It was stated that the survey should be filled out by young people themselves if possible, but parents/guardians may assist. The survey was developed using Microsoft Forms, and responses were collected and collated on this platform, as well as Microsoft Excel. Responses were analysed by the two authors independently to determine common themes and findings. Results: 28 responses were submitted for this survey, with all participants having had a virtual appointment over the phone. Most of these appointments were with a doctor, however some consultations were with a specialist nurse or other health care professional, such as a physiotherapist. 60.7% of participants found their virtual appointment helpful, however only 42.9% agreed that they would find further virtual appointments helpful, with half stating they would prefer a combination of virtual and face to face appointments. Good understanding of explanations about care and treatment were reported with 79% saying they completely/ sort of understood explanations given during the appointment. Further, 71% stated they were definitely/sort of involved in decisions about their care and treatment and 79% stated they were given an opportunity to ask questions. Key benefits of having a virtual appointment were found to be minimising travel time/costs;and being seen more quickly than waiting for a face to face appointment. However, 50% of the responses stated that the health care professional did not talk to the young person, just the parent or guardian. Conclusions: Virtual appointments were deemed to be helpful by young people and their families, however there is some concern over the level of youth engagement in this setting. Sources of Support The survey was deemed as a service evaluation project, and registered with the Standards, Quality and Audit Department of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. It was also supported by staff from the Trust's Quality Improvement Team.