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The Impact of Telemedicine on Patient-Provider Communication at a University Student Health Center

Effective patient-provider communication (PPC) involves conveying sufficient information to a patient such that the treatment is agreed upon and implemented accurately. Furthermore, a patient must feel adequately involved in the treatment process. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many clinical visits were shifted online. Although telemedicine was successful in meeting pandemic-specific goals, such as lowering personal contact, it changes the communicative context. Both patients and providers get less input from body language (nonverbal communication) and rely more on verbal communication. Furthermore, the number of telemedicine visits conducted remains elevated over pre-pandemic levels. Much of what is known about effective PPC is derived from studies in in-person contexts, with little information available in virtual contexts. Given that even occasional lapses in optimal PPC can have severe effects on patient outcomes, it is essential to understand PPC in various settings to optimize patient outcomes in the long run. This study was a secondary data analysis of the UCF Student Health Services Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. A total of 6645 survey results from January 2021 to November 2022 were analyzed to compare patient perceptions of PPC variables and overall satisfaction with the clinical visit. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in overall satisfaction and PPC variables between telemedicine and in-person visits. However, the results revealed that different PPC variables contributed to overall satisfaction with telemedicine and in-person visits.
Keywords: patient-provider communication, telemedicine, telehealth, COVID-19, patient satisfaction, college

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses-2714
Date01 January 2023
CreatorsDuvuuri, Venkata Naga Sreelalitapriya
PublisherSTARS
Source SetsUniversity of Central Florida
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceHonors Undergraduate Theses

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