Abstract: Online consultation or telemedicine is one of the major methodology utilized by physicians to see their patients who opted to stay at their respective homes because of fear of COVID-19. There are some advantages and disadvantages using this platform and perceptions from different groups of people may vary. As cited by Menon et al. (2016), there are burdens in the implementation of telemedicine but there are also advocates of its good effect that is expected to increase patient’s satisfaction and the good assistance to the family. For many of the private patients, telemedicine is the only safest way they could connect and seek consultation from their physicians but how about their perception on the prompt enactment of these telemedicine? It is important therefore to document the perspective of the recipients of telemedicine, the private patients, and be able to find out how prepared they are in this platform of healthcare service delivery. To determine their perception on the level of preparedness, a validated questionnaire was used. The result of the study shows that private patients are prepared for telemedicine, however, there are certain parameters that needs to be improved for a more steadfast online consultation experienced. They perceived that internet connectivity and the quality of service are fractions that needs to be evaluated while comfort, safety, and affordability are the perceived benefits they could get. They also perceived that telemedicine is applicable only for non-critical patients and for follow-up consultation.
Keywords: Online consultation, telemedicine, private patient perception, COVID-19 pandemic.
Title: Private Patients Perspective on the Use of Telemedicine at Times of COVID-19 Pandemic
Author: Danilo Andro S. Garcia Jr., Sheila T. Marino, Juan Eugenio Fidel B. Villanueva
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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