Virtual Care and Risk Project

[A Former User]

I usually say yes to requests to talk to researchers about various topics. It takes time but I like to know what's going on. The opportunity to give unexpected input is also attractive.
For this topic I worried about my level of knowledge. Most of my virtual medical appointments have been by phone, and some of these were not really beneficial. It was not an issue though - digital health covers a lot of territory.
For this project the researchers need quite a few patients and patient advisors. So if you have an hour to spare Heather is a lovely person to talk to.
This is a one hour interview. Email Heather Braund hlab@queensu.ca if you're interested, or feel free to pass it on
Annette

STUDY PURPOSE: We are currently conducting a study to understand the risks of virtual care from the perspective of patients and patient advisors. Virtual care is any form of care that occurs remotely between health care providers and patients and can include online video chat, text messaging, or email. While there are many ways to assess the risks of telemedicine, a form of virtual care, there is little understanding of what patients think are the risks. We would like to invite you to participate in a semi-structured interview to gather your perceptions on the risks of virtual care. Your participation in this study is voluntary. The study is conducted by researchers at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre and OPDES, Queen’s University.

PROCEDURES: You are invited to participate in a semi-structured interview with a member of the study team about the possible risks and facilitators of virtual care. You can choose to participate in-person, over the phone, or by video conference. In-person interviews will be conducted if COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, otherwise they will be conducted virtually. The discussion will take approximately 60 minutes of your time. The semi-structured interview will be audio recorded. If at any time throughout the interview you wish to speak off-the-record, you are free to tell the interviewer and/or researcher to stop the audio recorder. When you are finished speaking off-the-record, the interviewer and/or researcher will start the audio recording at your discretion again. Any answer is acceptable and you also do not have to answer every question if you do not want to. If at any time throughout the interview you wish to end your participation, you may stop the interview and leave the study. For all participants of the study, your care will not be affected by their answers in any way. Any quotes that will be published will be anonymized to prevent identification. You will be able to withdraw from the study without penalty. For patient participants, family members, and caregivers, this means that your withdrawal from the study will not affect your or your dependent’s medical care. For patient advisor participants, your withdrawal from the study will not affect your professional or academic standing.