Hispanic patients satisfied with telemedicine for headache care

AUSTIN, Texas — Hispanic patients with headache disorders were overall satisfied with telemedicine services, regardless of English language proficiency, according to a poster presented here.

“Telemedicine has been proven to have high levels of patient satisfaction, as well as being an alternative to in-person visits,” Michelle Bravo, MD, a headache fellow at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, told Healio. “However, in Hispanic populations seeking headache care have fewer ambulatory visits per year compared to [white patients] and in addition to that, Hispanic women are more likely to have chronic migraine.”

Bravo and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study of Hispanic patients who sought headache care at the University of Miami and participated in telemedicine visits.

Forty-seven participants (mean age, 48.3 years; 83% women) were asked to complete a survey following their visit that asked about age, gender, race, ethnicity, English proficiency and satisfaction with their telemedicine experience.

Overall satisfaction was reported in 87% of patients, with interpreter services being reported as satisfactory in 91% of patients who were not proficient in English. Both English-proficient and limited English-proficiency groups had similar satisfaction in telemedicine (93.4% vs. 80.7%; P = .657).

“In the overall telemedicine satisfaction there was no significant difference between English-proficient and the limited English proficient groups, which was very reassuring because it shows that language proficiency didn’t have an effect on satisfaction,” Bravo said.

In addition, patients with comorbidities such as anxiety, hypertension, diabetes, asthma and hypothyroidism, as well as women patients, were more likely to be satisfied with telemedicine visits.

“Telemedicine is an excellent tool,” Bravo said. “It was used during the pandemic and it has been proven to be an efficacious method in providing widespread health care. But with any tool, you want to ensure health equity and access to appropriate care.

“Overall, our Hispanic patients, whether they were proficient in English or not, were satisfied with their telemedicine serves and were more likely to use telemedicine services again.”