This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

TTRN CPH 2022: "Digital Health beyond COVID-19: Lessons Learned" (37)

Published on in Vol 8, No 1 (2022): Jan-Dec

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/41530, first published .
Video Consultations in General Practice: Tendencies and Lessons Learned From the First COVID-19 Lockdown Period

Video Consultations in General Practice: Tendencies and Lessons Learned From the First COVID-19 Lockdown Period

Video Consultations in General Practice: Tendencies and Lessons Learned From the First COVID-19 Lockdown Period

Authors of this article:

Elisabeth Assing Hvidt1 Author Orcid Image ;   Anette Grønning2 Author Orcid Image ;   Elle Lüchau1 Author Orcid Image ;   Maja Nordtug3 Author Orcid Image ;   Martin Bavngaard2 Author Orcid Image ;   Jens Søndergaard1 Author Orcid Image
Article Authors Cited by (1) Tweetations Metrics

    Abstract

    1Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    2Department for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    3Research Centre for Digitalisation of Public Services and Citizenship, Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

    *all authors contributed equally

    Corresponding Author:

    Elisabeth Assing Hvidt, BA, MA, PhD

    Research Unit of General Practice

    Department of Public Health

    University of Southern Denmark

    J.B. Winsløwsvej 9 A

    Odense, 5000

    Denmark

    Phone: 45 65504247

    Email: ehvidt@health.sdu.dk


    Background: Video consultation was urgently introduced in general practice in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, where a rapid implementation ensured patients’ continued access to their general practitioner (GP). With the Danish lockdown in March 2020, the use of video consultations in general practice increased drastically and then declined significantly shortly after as society gradually reopened. Today, only a small proportion of the total number of consultations in general practice is made up of video consultations, and there is great variation in the scope and use of video consultation among GPs and practice staff.

    Objective: The aim of this paper is to present research findings from a qualitative, interdisciplinary project, investigating GP and patient experiences with video consultations during the first lockdown period in 2020, which might help explain the abovementioned tendencies in relation to scope and implementation variances.

    Methods: The data corpus includes data generated through semistructured interviews with 27 patients and 15 GPs, as well as 8 video recordings of video consultations between GP and patient.

    Results: The patients reported positive experiences with consulting their GP through video, valuing increased convenience and spatial flexibility and wishing for future use of video consultation as either a supplement or an alternative to physical consultation. Video consultation furthermore presented a new communicative context in which both patients and GPs enacted distinct forms of technologically facilitated participation.

    Conclusions: To further the best use of video consultation in future general practice, organizational and individual factors such as renumeration, task delegation, time pressure, and professional identity need to be considered.

    iproc 2022;8(1):e41530

    doi:10.2196/41530

    Keywords

    video consultation; general practice; Denmark; COVID-19; qualitative research 

    Conflicts of Interest

    None declared.

    Edited by B Dinesen; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 29.07.22; accepted 19.08.22; published 23.08.22

    Copyright

    ©Elisabeth Assing Hvidt, Anette Grønning, Elle Lüchau, Maja Nordtug, Martin Bavngaard, Jens Søndergaard. Originally published in Iproceedings (https://www.iproc.org), 23.08.2022.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in Iproceedings, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.iproc.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.