1. Patient and provider perspectives on using telemedicine for chronic disease management among Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native people
- Author
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Adrian Jacques H Ambrose, Vanessa Y. Hiratsuka, Rebecca Delafield, Helene Starks, and Marjorie Mala Mau
- Subjects
Male ,Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander ,chronic disease treatment ,Health (social science) ,020205 medical informatics ,Epidemiology ,Ethnic group ,02 engineering and technology ,Health Services Accessibility ,0302 clinical medicine ,Health care ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,Telemedicine ,3. Good health ,focus groups ,Female ,Attitude to Health ,Adult ,lcsh:Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine ,Attitude of Health Personnel ,lcsh:RC955-962 ,provider perspective ,Hawaii ,Indigenous ,03 medical and health sciences ,Native hawaiian ,Nursing ,technology use ,Supplement 1, 2013 ,Humans ,Aged ,Physician-Patient Relations ,business.industry ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Circumpolar star ,patient perspective ,Focus group ,Research in the North ,Indians, North America ,Chronic disease ,Alaska ,Chronic Disease ,Indians, North American ,business - Abstract
Background. Among indigenous populations in remote locations who are at increased risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes, telemedicine has the potential to improve access to health care services and thus may reduce adverse health outcomes. Yet few studies are available on how best to use telemedicine technology in reducing ethnic and racial health care disparities. Objective. We examined perspectives of patients and providers in 2 indigenous populations in Alaska and Hawai’i about the use of telemedicine in primary care chronic disease management. Design. Six focus groups with patients and providers at 2 sites (3 in Alaska and 3 in Hawai’i). Results. Three broad themes were common to both sites: (a) benefits and barriers of using telemedicine; (b) building patientprovider relationships; and (c) elements of an acceptable telemedicine primary care encounter. Two key elements were endorsed by both patients and providers as important for an effective telemedicine encounter: (a) the initial patientprovider interaction should be face-to-face; and (b) patients must see the same provider on follow-up visits. Conclusion. The use of telemedicine in chronic disease management has potential to improve patient care in remote indigenous populations and may supplement patientprovider relationships. Keywords: Alaska; Indians, North America; focus groups; technology use; chronic disease treatment; patient perspective; provider perspective (Published: 5 August 2013) This paper is part of Supplement 1, 2013, ICCH15 Proceedings . More papers from this Supplement can be found here . Citation: Int J Circumpolar Health 2013, 72 : 21401 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21401
- Published
- 2013