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Remote consulting: Impact of telemedicine on the traditional veterinarian-client-patient relationship
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Remote consultations
Impact of telemedicine on the traditional veterinarian-client-patient relationship
Published 19 August 2020
Roca, R.Y. and McCarthy, R.J. (2019) Impact of telemedicine on the traditional veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, 37, 100359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcam.2019.100359
This paper reports on a multi-level survey that was sent to pet owners who used a popular United States telemedicine website over a 5-month period. A total of 398 responses (out of a possible 6,000) were obtained.
The majority of those responding (76.2%) had an existing traditional care veterinarian, and of these, 91.9% would use alternative methods of communication (phone, text or video) if provided. The remainder (23.8%) of owners did not have a traditional care veterinarian and requested referral to one. Most online consultations (60.0%) resulted in recommendation to follow up with a traditional care veterinarian, and 68.8% of owners did so. During follow-up owners felt better informed (89.3%) and better able to communicate (86.8%) with their traditional care veterinarian. Traditional care veterinarians agreed with the telemedicine service recommendation in 82.4% of cases. The most common reason for owners not following up with a traditional care veterinarian was financial limitation.
The authors conclude that the results of this survey suggest that the addition of telemedicine to the traditional Veterinary-Client Patient Relationship is viewed by owners as almost uniformly positive. However, it is noted that the limitations of telemedicine consultations including the lack of face-to-face interaction with a client and hands-on contact with a patient meant that the majority of telemedicine consultations resulted in the recommendation to follow up with a face to face consultation (60.0%).