Telemedicine in rheumatology: a mixed-methods study investigating acceptability, preferences, and experiences among patients and clinicians. 

Rheumatology, keab796, https: //doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keab796

Commentary

The Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated a rapid global transition to telemedicine.

Much remains to be learned about the acceptability and safety of telemedicine in rheumatology, and to inform practice, this study explored the experiences and telemedicine views of rheumatology patients and clinicians.

The resulting survey (patients n = 1,340, clinicians n = 111) interviews (patients n = 31, clinicians n = 29) were completed between April 2021 and July 2021. The majority of patients are from the UK (96%) and suffer from inflammatory arthritis (32%) lupus (32%).

Patients and clinicians rated telemedicine worse than face-to-face consultations in almost every category, but more than 60 percent found it more convenient. Establishing a trusting medical relationship and the accuracy of the evaluation were rated as major concerns. (93% of clinicians and 86% of patients rated telemedicine worse than face-to-face for accuracy of evaluation. Telemedicine was perceived as increasing misdiagnosis, inequality, and barriers to accessing care, and reported very different telemedicine delivery and responsiveness from primary and secondary care.