Participant quotes related to the advantages of virtual surgical consultation
| Themes and subthemes | Quote |
|---|---|
| Convenience | “You know what? It is such a hindrance to have to go to the university hospital, find parking, take time off and go and sit and wait there. When you make that appointment and 20 minutes later you’re off the phone and you’re on your way. You didn’t even have to leave your house.” P9 “As mentioned before, in this day of technology, personal visits should be rare. I sent him pictures by email as well and he would respond … We have used video conference, phone calls and email with pictures with my GP, my surgeon and oncologists and their assistants. It’s wonderful.” P12 “Sat here in the kitchen, we were on the phone and he was in his office and we could talk back and forth, and everything was 100%.” P2 |
| Did not have to take time | “I would have had to take at least a half day, but more likely a full day off work.” P11 off work “I didn’t have to go back to Saskatoon and miss another day of work.” P55 |
| More time-efficient | “… it saved me time, saved him time, he was very succinct …” P17 “… it just takes a lot less time ‘cause in-person, you’d have to drive down there, find parking, pay for parking, and then you go up and then sometimes there’s a wait as well in the waiting room. Then you go there, you’re shown into a room, then you wait some more. So there’s a whole lot of time there that you could be doing something else and all of that time leading up to that point is just so that you can spend, what? Five maybe 10 minutes with someone.” P34 “I think the fact that the doctor maybe had a little more time to spend talking with (us), he answered all of the questions and took the time to really see if there were any problems. We didn’t feel rushed or worried as you often do maybe when you have an appointment in person.” P1 “The responsiveness was good, probably was able to get to see him or speak to him sooner than I would’ve if I had to do an in-person consultation. So luckily the response was quicker which was good.” P19 |
| No need to travel | “Most of my concerns were easily addressed without having to travel.” P11 “I don’t think it made a lot of difference other than I would be travelling to Saskatoon if it was an in-person appointment where this way I could just talk from home, save the trip.” P58 “I mean for the most part thinking back to all the appointments I had before surgery, probably a lot of them could’ve been done over the phone… I mean if there’s no actual test that needs to be done or anything like that I don’t see why you can’t do the majority of it over the phone until you actually need to examine someone it seems fine.” P39 |
| Decreased burden on caregivers | “… he wasn’t very strong and it’s quite a long ways from the parking lot, into the hospital and you’ve gotta get wheelchairs types of things and navigate through it. It’s a bit nerve-wracking.” P3 “It does take 2 people, I could probably do it just by myself now but when these took place yeah it would 2 people and a day and 75 bucks and a wheelchair.” P1 “It would require 2 drivers, 1 to drive me there because there’s no place even to really stay because of COVID they came back and then the other driver picked me up the next day.” P24 |
| Cost savings | “I live out of province, so it would have been expensive to attend the appointment in person — accommodations, gas, meals, etc.” P10 “… especially if I have to go to a doctor at RUH [Royal University Hospital] or whatever for sure because it’s the [exorbitant] parking fees.” P19 |
| Decreased exposure to pathogens | “You eliminate all the risks, in fact you eliminate the risk of travelling down the highway as far as I’m concerned. So you don’t have that risk, you don’t have the risk like I say of getting any infections or anything at the hospital which is minimal but still there’s a chance.” P2 “… worry about perhaps meeting other people, in a waiting room situation that might have been compromised. And the fact that [name]’s health wasn’t the best but he was still able to have a very good appointment online.” P3 “Considering that it was during COVID and the issues that I was having were lung-related so yes, I preferred it over the phone and not needing to go into St. Paul’s.” P19 |