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The virtual patient group: an effective way of engaging patients and gathering essential feedback to improve service delivery and medical care for Chronic Hepatitis B patients
Gut ; 71(Suppl 3):A29-A30, 2022.
Article in English | ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-2064224
ABSTRACT
Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients require long term medical care, with regular monitoring blood tests and ultrasound scans. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted outpatient services and many patients fell ‘out of sync’ with their routine care;missing scans, blood tests and running out of medication as a result. Telephone appointments are now routine in outpatient care, and fewer patients attend for F2F appointments than pre-pandemic. We developed a virtual patient forum for patient engagement and service evaluation.Patients were invited to take part in a virtual patient group during routine telephone appointments. Further information was sent by email with a link to virtual meeting. Meetings were scheduled in weekday evenings to allow those who are currently working to attend, with a duration of 1–1.5 hours. Feedback surveys were sent out via email, and notes from the meeting were sent to patient participants for approval.Results3 sessions were held virtually between November 2021 – June 2022. A total of 14 patient interactions across 3 sessions (Male n=5, Female n= 3). A doctor chaired the sessions and a nurse specialist was also in attendance. Topics raised varied but there was repeated discussion regarding treatment, patient support and disease information. Diagnosis was highlighted as particularly difficult;patients suggested increasing available resources. Patients on treatment reported difficulties obtaining repeat prescriptions, uncertainty about long-term implications of taking medication and requested more information on treatment and new therapies.Post feedback surveys were distributed within 1 week of the sessions and had a 78% completion rate. All respondents reported sessions were useful to them. Additional comments mentioned the utility of speaking to other CHB patients (n=5,) the value of being able to “contribute in a way which helps services develop/improve” (n=3,) having an avenue to “express concerns” (n=2) and opportunity to hear about treatment developments (n=2).Patient expectations of the sessions were as follows;wanting to engage with other patients (n=8,) engaging with the clinical team (n=5,) raising concerns/issues (n=4) and a desire for more information about CHB (n=4.) All patients stated the sessions met their expectations, and that they would be interested in attending similar sessions in future.ConclusionsVirtual patient groups were effective in our patient cohort for gathering feedback on service delivery and formulating goals for future work and service improvement. Patients respond positively to the opportunity to share their opinions, and this enables effective collaboration necessary to drive change.
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Full text: Available Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: ProQuest Central Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Gut Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: ProQuest Central Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Gut Year: 2022 Document Type: Article