JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

An increasingly ageing population with growing needs of healthcare presents major challenges in northern Sweden’s sparsely populated regions (SPR). Few people, a lack of professionals and long distances make it difficult to access healthcare according to the rights in the Swedish legislation where care should be provided on equitable terms and organised close to the people. Remote treatment (RT) has been suggested as a way of providing healthcare in these areas. However, there is scarce knowledge on how, when, and for whom RT works.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to describe experiences of patients’ re-visiting specialist doctors via RT, in northern Sweden's SPR.

Methods:

A qualitative study was conducted based on interviews with eight patients with cardiovascular disease re-visiting their doctor, through distance bridging technology (DBT), from a digital health room or a healthcare centre in northern Sweden. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed with inductive content analysis. The results are discussed using a person-centred care perspective.

Results:

The analysis resulted in six categories: Good accessibility; Safety with good relationships; Proximity, and distance with technology; Habit and quality of the technology facilitate the meeting; Cherishing personal integrity and Participation in own care. These categories were interpreted as the theme “Participation and relationships important for good and close care via RT”.

Conclusions:

The study shows that “participation and relationships are important for good and close care via RT”. To improve the quality of an RT meeting, PCC can be applied but needs to be extended to ePPC, especially the communication component as it is the most salient difference from a face-to-face meeting. Important factors have been identified that should be taken into account before, during and after the RT meeting.