Telehealth Service Utilization for Gynae & Obstetrics During COVID-19 Pandemic in Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Provision of health information and delivery of health care services by means of electronic information and communications technology (ICT) to distant patients, separated by geography, time, social and cultural barriers is termed as telehealth. Objective: To evaluate the provision of telehealth services for Gynae and Obstetrics in relation to satisfaction of patients and fetal outcomes. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted between 18-5-21 to 31-12-21 in Gynae and obstetrics unit of Farooq Hospital Westwood branch. A sample of 108 respondents was collected through simple random sampling technique. In order to analyze the data, SPSS version 23 was utilized, and chi square test was used to determine the associations between variables fixing p value at less than 0.05. Results: Most common device used for appointment of telehealth services was smartphone (87%) (p=0.02) and most important barrier in telehealth services was network issues reported by (55.5%) (p=0.01) of respondents. Majority of the respondents (84.1%) were satisfied with telehealth service utilization (p=0.00). Strong association was seen between utilization of services and easing of appointment (p=0.00), understandability of language (p=0.00), need based services (p=0.00), convenience (p=0.00), comfort (p=0.00), cost effectiveness (p=0.01), better standard of care (p=0.01), careful response of physicians (p=0.02) and sympathetic attitude (p=0.00). Conclusion: High satisfaction rate was observed with provision of telehealth services in Pakistan and most important barrier was network issues.