Lessons learned from the rapid rollout of telehealth for physician care during the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada – Exploring the perspectives of long-term care providers and recipients

During the COVID-19 pandemic, long-term care homes in Canada enacted lockdown protocols to safeguard the health of their residents. Consequently, physicians had to connect virtually with residents through telehealth methods such as video and phone calling to reduce the transmission risk of the virus and to maintain continuity of care. While this rapid rollout of telehealth was essential, uncertainties surrounding the quick implementation without sufficient consultation of decision-makers were experienced by care providers and recipients. This thesis provides two qualitative analyses that used interviews and focus groups to explore the experiences of each group and provide recommendations for telehealth use for long-term care homes in British Columbia's, Fraser Health Authority. One analysis focuses on the challenges participants faced implementing the rapid rollout of telehealth to support physician visits, while the second analysis explores which facets of physician care are not appropriate to be delivered through telehealth in long-term care settings.