Child health and paediatric telehealth services: a mixed methods study of its uptake in children’s healthcare services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Abstract

A mixed methods design was used to explore the expanded use of telehealth across a suite of acute paediatric, community child health care and paediatric allied health in NSLHD. The rapid increase in telehealth service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic was driven by the need to sustain healthcare services when the strict social restrictions were imposed. The use of telephone services within child and family health community services remained a steady form of care delivery before, during, and after the pandemic, and was reported by providers as separate from telehealth. Telehealth use in social work remained low before, during, and after the pandemic, despite an increase in demand for family crisis intervention and counselling at that time. Telehealth outcomes were comparable to traditional in-person care delivery for aspects of healthcare that do not require physical assessments, procedures, or surgery. There were limitations for some mental health, child protection and domestic violence services. The convenience, ease of use, indirect and direct cost benefits, and improved access to healthcare services were expressed as the key drivers for the use of telehealth. The variability in the application of telehealth, and the corresponding experiences and outcomes, was not inherently linked to the context or type of service provided. The greater influence was the individual values and experiences of clinicians. In particular, their level of comfort with telehealth and their broader familiarity with technology. There was a consensus that telehealth was “here to stay” and that the future of telehealth is extrinsically linked with technological developments. To improve access and increase the use of telehealth, the important influence of professional self-efficacy should be considered. Further research interest is recommended for emerging hybrid models of care, clinicians ’professional self-efficacy and the wellbeing of clinicians in a virtual care era.