A survey was offered pre-consult to all families who attended pediatric urology and general surgery outpatient clinics over a three-month period.
A total of 1032 of 1574 families screened participated (66.0%). Less than half (18.5%) of participants traveled over 200 km, and 32.9% spent over 4 hours in transit, round-trip. The proportion of participants who spent over $50 on travel and ancillary expenses was 33.0%. In 74.0% of families, 1 or more adults missed work. The proportion of families who perceived costs as somewhat high or high was 29.1%. Perceived cost was positively correlated to distance traveled, money spent, and missed work (p < 0.01). Most were comfortable with medical communication using technology; and 34.3%–42.7% would avoid an in-person clinic visit utilizing email, telephone, and video conferencing. Higher perceived cost (p < 0.001) and distance traveled (p < 0.01) were only weakly associated with greater willingness to substitute a clinic visit with video conferencing.
Many families face high costs related to routine outpatient clinical visits, and there is a substantial willingness by them to access telemedicine alternatives, rather than the traditional face-to-face clinical visit.