Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 11, 2025
Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting
Published on: June 6, 2020
Exploring parental experiences of virtual paediatric neurodevelopmental consultations
Rebecca Finnegan1, Aoife Flynn2, Orla Flanagan2
1Department of Paediatrics, Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland. Rebeccafinnegan2@icloud.com.
Insights
Parents reported high satisfaction with virtual consultations for neurodevelopmental services. A combined virtual and in-person approach is preferred for future care, enhancing convenience and accessibility.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare
- Telemedicine
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid shifts in healthcare delivery, particularly for specialized services like neurodevelopmental clinics.
- Virtual consultations emerged as a critical adaptation to maintain patient care during the pandemic.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess parental experiences and satisfaction with virtual consultations for children in a neurodevelopmental service.
- To understand preferences for future service delivery models post-pandemic.
Main Methods:
- Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to parents of children utilizing virtual clinics over a 10-week period.
- Data collection focused on satisfaction levels with both previous in-person and current virtual appointments.
Main Results:
- Thirty parental questionnaires were completed, indicating high satisfaction with virtual consultations (8.2/10), matching satisfaction with prior face-to-face appointments.
- Key aspects of virtual consultations received very positive feedback.
- 77% of parents expressed a preference for a hybrid model combining virtual and face-to-face consultations in the future.
Conclusions:
- The study confirms significant parental satisfaction with the transition to virtual clinics, despite initial challenges.
- While virtual consultations offer convenience and accessibility, they do not fully replace the benefits of in-person, holistic assessments.
- An integrated outpatient model incorporating both virtual and face-to-face consultations has been developed to optimize patient satisfaction and meet evolving needs.
Objective:
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in dramatic changes and challenges to healthcare practices. We endeavoured to establish the experiences of families of children attending a neurodevelopmental service after a transition to virtual consultations.
Methods:
Anonymous questionnaires were posted to parents of children registered in virtual clinics over a 10-week period.
Results:
Thirty parental questionnaires were completed. Parents reported a very high level of satisfaction (8.2/10) with previous face-to-face clinic appointments and virtual consultations (8.2/10). Individual aspects of virtual consultations received very positive ratings. Overall, 77% of parents highlighted a future preference for a combined service of both virtual and face-to-face consultations.
Conclusions:
This study highlights the high level of parental satisfaction with the service, but especially satisfaction with the unplanned transition to virtual clinics. Virtual clinics cannot replace the holistic approach gained from face-to-face consultations; however, we identified their benefits of convenience and accessibility for our vulnerable population. In response, we have developed an integrated outpatient service involving both forms of consultation to potentiate satisfaction and adapt to meet the needs of our patients. The suggested proforma that has been developed offers a simple structure for undertaking a virtual consultation that can be adapted to different specialities, integrating the suggestions provided by our service users.
