Table 4.
Themes and illustrative quotes regarding the use of a discharge videoconference for CMC
Theme | Illustrative quote from PCP | Illustrative quote from caregiver |
---|---|---|
Development of shared understanding | “I liked it because I think it kind of empowers [caregivers] to advocate too and to ask questions or concerns, kind of like when you do rounds and involve the family.” | “Less of me having to call one person and me explain what had happened there at the hospital…and there’s just a lot of terms and different medical stuff that I probably wouldn’t have been able to explain to [PCP].” |
Benefits of remote physical assessment | “If [Patient] were awake [visual aspect] would have been valuable…would have been helpful to [PCP] so he knows how [Patient] acts on a normal basis.” | |
Transparency | “I think mom was able to see the communication between providers…with the mom there, so that she hears that and hears it from both sides.” | |
Humanizing the handoff of care | “Well I think on a kind of subjective level, it is just kind of nice to have a face to the [caregiver] and get a sense of how she was doing and to see her sort of nodding as people were talking and stuff like that, I think is just helpful to know that they are kind of on board with what is going on.” | “Sitting and talking with [PCP]…he wasn’t freaking out, so it just made me feel like, “Oh, I don’t need to freak out”…so it actually calmed down my nerves.” |
Increasing PCP comfort with care of CMC | “I felt so much more comfortable when I saw [Patient] on my schedule knowing that, okay I know exactly what happened down there and I know exactly what to look for.” | |
Feasibility barriers | “I just feel like it was a little tiny bit confusing because I couldn’t really tell who was calling … if we would have been able to see all of their faces and that way we could have known who was speaking at the moment—then that would have been better.” | “Aside from reimbursement, just providers being so busy…I could conceive that some providers who are a little bit overwhelmed could just say this is one more thing I don’t want to deal with.” |