Changes in Televisit Modalities Due to the Covid-Pandemic in Chile: A Comparison of Patient Satisfaction.

Background: The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted healthcare guidelines and modalities of patient consultation worldwide. The frequent cycles of quarantine confinement in Chile has caused mobility restrictions for both patients and physicians, which forced the Hospital Las Higueras de Talcahuano (HHT) to replace the assisted televisit modality with a more classic televisit program. This change may have impacted the satisfaction of patients. Methods: Patient’s perception of satisfaction was evaluated through self-administered survey questionnaires, previously validated in the Spanish language. Cohorts were grouped according to two relational models: i) Assisted televisit, 503 neurology patients during the years 2018-2019; and ii) Televisit , 831 patients from different specialties treated during 2020. Perception of satisfaction was compared by gender, age, and type of televisit, and internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) and reliability (factorial analysis of main components) were assessed. Results: Assisted televisit and televisit cohorts were composed by 64.2% and 67.6% women, respectively; patients under 65 years of age were 62.2% and 75%, respectively. Assisted televisit patients showed very high 94.4% (n=475) and high 5.2% (n=26) satisfaction levels, while televisit patients showed very high 22.3% (n=185), high 63.9% (n=531), and moderate 13.1% (n=109) satisfaction levels; this difference is statistically significant at p < 0.001. Questionnaires showed excellent internal consistency, and all items showed point biserial correlations greater than 0.30. Conclusion: Lower perception of satisfaction due to the change in televisit relational modality underscores the importance of primary care professionals, who support the specialist in the assisted televisit model. The results of this study suggest that assisted televisit contributes to delivering an integrative solution that helps to alleviate the fragmentation of the system. Funding: None to declare. Declaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: Project approved by Scientific Ethics Committee of the SST of the Ministry of Health (Acta N°97 from 12.12.2017)