A survey shows that evaluations of the safety of non-face-to-face medical consultations differ between medical staff and patients. While 8 out of 10 patients believe that non-face-to-face consultations are as safe as face-to-face consultations, 80% of doctors held the opposite view.
According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs on the 23rd, the recently released study titled 'Evaluation of the performance of the non-face-to-face medical consultation pilot project' disclosed results of a survey conducted online among 1,500 patients, 300 doctors, and 100 pharmacists who participated in at least one non-face-to-face consultation between June 2023 and July 2024.
As a result, 82.5% of patients said they did not feel anxious about the non-face-to-face consultations. 50.1% responded that it was similar to face-to-face consultations, and 32.4% stated they felt less anxious compared to face-to-face consultations.
In contrast, 80.3% of doctors felt that non-face-to-face consultations were more anxious than face-to-face consultations. Of the 300 doctors surveyed, 66.0% responded that non-face-to-face consultations were somewhat anxious compared to face-to-face consultations, and 14.3% indicated they were very anxious.
The main reason for feeling anxious about non-face-to-face consultations, cited by 77.6%, was that both doctors and patients have limitations in making accurate diagnoses. Communication difficulties (18.3%) were also noted as a reason for anxiety.
The researchers noted that both doctors and patients raised concerns about communication difficulties and the accuracy of diagnoses in non-face-to-face consultations, which could negatively impact the quality of care. They emphasized the need to strive for improvements in communication and diagnostic accuracy. The necessity for the development of evaluation indicators to enhance safety and for ongoing monitoring and management was also suggested.
Meanwhile, doctors' satisfaction with non-face-to-face consultations was rated at 2.86 out of 5. The primary reason for their dissatisfaction was the limitations in patients' expression of accurate disease-related symptoms or discomfort (43.4%), as well as the risks of medical accidents and unclear legal responsibilities (33.7%).
The researchers suggested that since both doctors and pharmacists are concerned about medical accidents resulting from non-face-to-face consultations, specialized organizations should collect and analyze specific data related to medical accidents and develop practical measures to prevent such accidents based on this information.