Article in Japanese

Caregiver satisfaction with telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic: A questionnaire survey

Tomohiro Hirade^1）, Daisuke Koike^1）

The unprecedented surge in coronavirus disease 2019 （COVID-19） has severely strained public health systems． To support the families of pediatric patients, telehealth services were provided utilizing telephone consultation and the Health Center Real-Time Information Sharing System on COVID-19 （HER-SYS）, which enabled effective monitoring of patient health status． This study aimed to evaluate caregiver satisfaction with these telehealth services. A questionnaire survey was conducted, wherein caregivers rated their satisfaction with telehealth services on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 （strongly disagree） to 5 （strongly agree）. During the pandemic, telephone-based telehealth services were offered to 600 families, while HER-SYS-based telehealth services were provided to 120 families． Responses were obtained from 74 out of 300 families utilizing telephone-based telehealth and 21 out of 120 families using HER-SYS-based telehealth. The mean scores for understandability, availability, and frequency of telehealth services via both methods were approximately 4.0． However, telephone-based telehealth significantly outperformed HER-SYS-based telehealth in terms of reliability, helpfulness, and overall satisfaction. While services provided by other medical staff or facilities were also evaluated, both telephone-based and HER-SYS-based telehealth services received comparatively lower scores in this regard． In conclusion, offering diverse telehealth options, such as telephone and HER-SYS, tailored to specific situational needs, can enhance pandemic preparedness. These findings underscore the importance of developing more efficient and convenient telehealth systems to support families and mitigate isolation during large-scale disasters.

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1）Department of Pediatrics, Shimane Prefectural Central Hospital

Key words	telehealth, COVID-19, telephone-based telehealth, HER-SYS, questionnaire
Received	March 23, 2025
Accepted	June 6, 2025

37 (3)：227─237,2025