ABSTRACT
This report from the field describes a partnership between an academic medical center emergency department, rural emergency medical services, and AT&T FirstNet, a nationwide high-speed broadband network for public safety, to pilot-test clinical consults via telemedicine in a medically underserved area. We describe the methods, outcomes, and implications for practice.
Subject(s)
Emergency Medical Services , Telemedicine , Humans , Emergency Medical Services/methods , Medically Underserved Area , Rural Population , Emergency Service, HospitalABSTRACT
Telemedicine use surged during COVID-19, and a significant amount of recent research has relied solely on online surveys to assess patient perceptions. However, these surveys may be biased since they require an internet connection and digital literacy skills. We compare local perceptions of telemedicine visits in rural areas across two methods of data collection: online-only vs. paper surveys. We collected 100 paper and 108 online surveys in two rural counties with a total population of 10,000. The results show that significant differences exist in the demographics of people completing each type of survey and in the perceptions of telemedicine, with paper-based respondents generally demonstrating a higher degree of confidence in telemedicine. Ordered logistic regressions controlling for potentially influential underlying demographic characteristics (income, hours worked, and presence of children) show that paper-based respondents tend to have higher opinions of telemedicine, but that overall levels of comfort are similar across survey types.
