Patient satisfaction with telemedicine: a comparison study of geriatric patients

Studies of patient satisfaction are continually needed to provide feedback to the medical community about rapidly changing telemedicine technology. We accumulated data during 1998 from geriatric patients living in a retiremen t community based on their experience with telemedicine (one encounter a we ek for eight weeks). Responses to the items on a Likert scale were generall y positive. A similar study was conducted with random patients at the same site two and a half years later. The results were once again positive and a ppeared to show an even better response than those obtained in the previous study. Thus, although the pilot study was small (20 patients, 18 reporting ), this trend may reflect an increased acceptance of telemedicine applicati ons among geriatric patients. Larger studies are needed to substantiate thi s claim.