Summary
Background and Significance: End stage renal disease (ESRD) affects approximately 660,000 persons in the US each
year, representing a significant financial burden to the health care system and affected
individuals. Telehealth approaches to care offer an important means of reducing costs
as well as increasing autonomy for patients. Understanding patient satisfaction with
telehealth provides a key towards eventual scalability.
Materials and Methods: Quarterly surveys were conducted to characterize satisfaction with remote biometric
monitoring (RBM) for blood pressure, weight, glucose and peritoneal dialysis (PD)-specific
educational online videos for ESRD patients using PD.
Results: Of 300 participants, 67% participated in the surveys and provided baseline and at
least one follow-up assessment. The majority were 45 to 64 years of age (50.5%), Black
(64.5%), married or living with significant other (52.0%), and had more than a high
school degree (73.0%). RBM was associated with perceived autonomy and confidence in
health care activities and decreased negative perceptions of PD care and ESRD. The
majority of participants (80.1%) indicated that they were satisfied or completely
satisfied with the system. Participants found that the interface increased confidence,
reduced frustration, and related perceptions were significantly and positively altered
(p<0.05) for each of the separate telehealth components. Educational videos were well
utilized with nearly half of the participants (42.5%) reporting that they watched
at least one of the videos, and the majority reporting that the videos seen had an
overall positive impact on health. Discussion and Conclusions: Supplementing PD with telehealth has the potential to have a positive impact on patient
perceptions of PD care and consequently improve clinical outcomes.
Keywords
Chronic kidney failure - peritoneal dialysis - telemedicine - tele-education - patient
satisfaction - patient outcome assessment - telehealth - end stage renal disease -
remote biometric monitoring
