Nursing practice and teleconsultations in a pandemic context: A mixed-methods study.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Digital Health
• Primary Health Care

Background:

• Teleconsultation use surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Physician and specialist teleconsultation implementation is documented, but nursing practice remains under-researched.
• Limited knowledge exists on teleconsultation adoption by primary care nurses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the utilization and implementation of teleconsultations by primary care nurses.
• To identify facilitators and barriers to teleconsultation use in nursing practice.
• To suggest solutions for sustainable teleconsultation integration post-pandemic.

Main Methods:

• Sequential mixed-methods study design.
• Phase 1: Cross-sectional e-survey with 98 nurses (nurse clinicians [NCs] and nurse practitioners [NPs]).
• Phase 2: Semi-structured interviews with 10 nurses (4 NCs, 6 NPs).

Main Results:

• Telephone was the primary teleconsultation modality used by nurses.
• Nurse clinicians (NCs) were more likely to use teleconsultations.
• Facilitators included web platforms and work-life balance; barriers involved resources and systemic integration.
• Positive impacts (e.g., cognitive deficiency assessment) and negative impacts (e.g., rural population access) were reported.

Conclusions:

• Nurses have significant potential to utilize teleconsultations in primary care.
• Updated nursing education, user-friendly technology, and supportive policies are essential.
• Teleconsultations can be sustainably integrated into primary health care nursing practice.