Patient Capability, Confidence, and Interest in Telemedicine at a Public Safety Net Hospital Urology Clinic

We preliminarily assessed challenges to developing a telemedicine program at a specialty clinic in a public safety-net hospital serving a diverse population.

Patients visiting a urology clinic were surveyed regarding potential follow-up telemedicine visits. A follow-up survey was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate changing interest.

Our pre-COVID study population consisted of 498 patients, speaking 17 primary languages; primarily, the population had MediCal or no insurance coverage (56.8%). Most had the capability to take part in telemedicine video calls (73.1%), though significantly fewer had the confidence (45.9%) or interest (51%). There was a distinct drop in capability, confidence, and interest with increasing age but not with preferred language. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we noted increased interest in non-traditional visits (n=100), with 79% stating they would repeat a non-in-person visit.

Increasing interest in non-traditional visits during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests patient interest and confidence may be malleable.