Patient and Provider Experiences With Virtual Care in a Large, Ambulatory Care Hospital in Ontario, Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Study

Abstract

Background: Virtual care use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of that shift on patient and provider experiences is unclear.

Objective: We evaluated patient and provider experiences with virtual visits across an academic, ambulatory hospital in Toronto, Canada and assessed predictors of positive experience with virtual care.

Methods: Survey data were analyzed from consenting patients who attended at least one virtual visit (video or telephone) and from consenting providers who delivered at least one virtual visit. Distributions for demographic variables and responses to survey questions are reported, with statistical significance assessed using chi-square tests and t tests. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to identify any patient predictors of responses.

Results: During the study period, 253 patients (mean age 45.1, SD 15.6 years) completed 517 video visit surveys, and 147 patients (mean age 41.6, SD 16.4 years) completed 209 telephone visit surveys. A total of 75 and 94 providers completed the survey in June 2020 and June 2021, respectively. On a scale from 1 to 10 regarding likelihood to recommend virtual care to others, fewer providers rated a score of 8 or above compared with patients (providers: 62/94, 66% for video and 49/94, 52% for telephone; patients: 415/517, 80% for video and 150/209, 72% for telephone). Patients of non-White ethnicity had lower odds of rating a high score of 9 or 10 compared with White patients (odds ratio 0.52, 95% CI 0.28-0.99).

Conclusions: Patient experiences with virtual care were generally positive, but provider experiences were less so. Findings suggest potential differences in patient experience by ethnicity, warranting further investigation into equity concerns with virtual care.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 pandemic; ethnicity; experience; patient experience; provider experience; social factors; telehealth; telemedicine; virtual; virtual care.