Umeå University's logo

Background: Access to health care for an aging population with growing needs presents major challenges in northern Sweden’s sparsely populated regions. Few people, the lack of professionals, and long distances make it difficult to provide health care on equitable terms according to the Swedish legislation. Remote treatment (RT) using information and communication technology has been suggested to overcome these difficulties, and person-centered care (PCC) is a desired philosophy to improve the quality of health care. However, there is scarce knowledge about how patients experience RT meetings.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the experiences of patients with cardiovascular disease revisiting specialist physicians via RT guided by a PCC perspective in northern Sweden’s sparsely populated regions.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted based on interviews with 8 patients with cardiovascular disease revisiting their physician through RT, from a digital health room to a health care center or from a health care center to a hospital. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using inductive content analysis. The results are discussed from a PCC perspective.

Results: The analysis resulted in 6 categories: good accessibility, safety with good relationships, proximity and distance with technology, habit and quality of the technology facilitating the meeting, cherishing personal integrity, and participation in own care. These categories were interpreted as the theme, participation and relationships are important for good and close care via RT.

Conclusions: The study shows that participation and relationships are important for good and close care via RT. To improve the quality of an RT meeting, PCC can be applied but needs to be extended to the digital domain—electronic PCC, especially the communication component, as it is the most salient difference from a face-to-face meeting. Important factors that should be considered before, during, and after the RT meeting have been identified.