Telehealth use by walk-in patients who subsequently visited an academic emergency department: a repeated cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 summer 2021.

Aim Of The Study: During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth use increased worldwide in a variety of medical specialities and reached new population groups. A baseline survey of telehealth use prior to admission to the emergency department (ED) conducted before COVID-19 concluded that predominantly well-educated men used telehealth. It is unclear how COVID-19 changed the use of telehealth in Swiss emergency patients.

Use of telehealth and outcomes before a visit to the emergency department: a cross-sectional study on walk-in patients in Switzerland.

Aims Of The Study: An increasing number of patients are using telehealth before contacting the healthcare system. If we are to optimise future telehealth strategies and adequately respond to patient needs, we need to know more about the frequency and characteristics of telehealth use. Our objectives were (i) to investigate whether patients use telehealth before consulting the emergency department (ED), (ii) to compare patients with and without use of telehealth, and (iii) to investigate adherence, confidence and satisfaction.