Patient Satisfaction in Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics: In-Person vs Telemedicine

Abstract

Background: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical practices for children with neurodevelopmental disorders urgently adopted telehealth, despite limited data regarding patient satisfaction.

Objective: To compare patient satisfaction survey scores for neurodevelopmental pediatric appointments completed in-person to appointments completed via telemedicine.

Methods: Using routinely collected Press Ganey survey results, the proportion of Top Box scores (the percentage of responses in the highest possible category [ie, the percentage of "very good" or "always" responses]) for an in-person only group was compared to the proportion in a telemedicine-only group using Fisher's exact test.

Results: Most respondents gave Top-Box scores in response to all of the questions for both in-person and telemedicine visits. There were no statistically significant differences in any domain of the Press Ganey surveys in Top Box percentages for in-person vs telemedicine visits.

Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence that telehealth may be an acceptable modality for families seeking care for their children with neurodevelopmental concerns.

Keywords: autism; behavior; developmental delay; developmental disability; developmental-behavioral pediatrics‌; neurodevelopment; neurodevelopmental disabilities.