TELEMEDCINE AND PARENTAL FRUSTRATION IN ACCESSING PEDIATRICS CARE
Abstract
Background: Delaying needed care could be detrimental to health, especially for children. Due to various factors, including the supply of providers, access to healthcare can be a challenge. Telemedicine is expected to help improve access to care for vulnerable populations, including children, who might be in need of care. The objective of this study was to assess whether the use of telemedicine decreases parents’ frustration with accessing care for children.
Methods: Data for this study was the 2021 National Survey of Children Health (NSCH). Our outcome variable was perceived frustration with accessing care, and the key independent variable was the use of telemedicine for care in the past 12 months. After including other demographic covariates, we ran a logistic regression to examine the relationship between our outcome and the key independent variable. We tested the presence of racial and geographic disparities by interacting our key independent variable with the rural and racial variables in separate models. All analyses were weighted to account for the complex sampling design of the NSCH.
Results: About 18% of survey respondents reported having frustrations with accessing needed care, 35% of these were of minority races. When compared to those who did not use telemedicine, those who did had lower odds of reporting frustrations with care for their children (aOR= 0.22, [95%CI, 0.10, 0.47]). There were no racial differences or geographic differences noted in this relationship.
Conclusion: Our study shows that telemedicine improves access to care and decreases frustrations associated with accessing care. It is reassuring that this benefits all racial groups and geographical locations. Efforts to expand and improve access to telemedicine could go a long way to make healthcare more equitable.
Keywords
Telemedicine, Pediatric, access to care
TELEMEDCINE AND PARENTAL FRUSTRATION IN ACCESSING PEDIATRICS CARE
Background: Delaying needed care could be detrimental to health, especially for children. Due to various factors, including the supply of providers, access to healthcare can be a challenge. Telemedicine is expected to help improve access to care for vulnerable populations, including children, who might be in need of care. The objective of this study was to assess whether the use of telemedicine decreases parents’ frustration with accessing care for children.
Methods: Data for this study was the 2021 National Survey of Children Health (NSCH). Our outcome variable was perceived frustration with accessing care, and the key independent variable was the use of telemedicine for care in the past 12 months. After including other demographic covariates, we ran a logistic regression to examine the relationship between our outcome and the key independent variable. We tested the presence of racial and geographic disparities by interacting our key independent variable with the rural and racial variables in separate models. All analyses were weighted to account for the complex sampling design of the NSCH.
Results: About 18% of survey respondents reported having frustrations with accessing needed care, 35% of these were of minority races. When compared to those who did not use telemedicine, those who did had lower odds of reporting frustrations with care for their children (aOR= 0.22, [95%CI, 0.10, 0.47]). There were no racial differences or geographic differences noted in this relationship.
Conclusion: Our study shows that telemedicine improves access to care and decreases frustrations associated with accessing care. It is reassuring that this benefits all racial groups and geographical locations. Efforts to expand and improve access to telemedicine could go a long way to make healthcare more equitable.
