Research in home-care telemedicine: challenges in patient recruitment.
This study reports challenges in recruiting patients for a randomized controlled trial of homecare telemedicine. Descriptive statistics on patient eligibility for home-care telemedicine services and patient refusals for participation are provided. Frequency counts of reasons for study exclusion and participant refusal and Chi-square tests to compare race and age-related differences are given. Of 302 home-care patients reviewed, 197 (65.2%) did not meet inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for study exclusion were patients either needing <2 visits per month (n = 59, 30%) or >3 skilled nurse visits per week (n = 46, 23.4%). Of the eligible patients (n = 105), 79 persons (75.2%) refused participation. The most common reasons for refusals were lack of perceived addition benefit of telemedicine (n = 27, 34.2%), and that routine health care was sufficient (n = 23, 29.1%). Higher than expected proportions of patients did not meet chosen eligibility criteria or refused to participate. These results should be helpful in designing home-care telemedicine programs and clinical trials.
Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. usubrama@iupui.edu
Usha
U
Subramanian
Faith
F
Hopp
Julie
J
Lowery
Peter
P
Woodbridge
David
D
Smith
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D017216:Telemedicine