A Simple Intervention Improves Access to Telemedicine for Spanish-Speaking Families in an Outpatient Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic.
Publication/Presentation Date
5-14-2025
Abstract
Telemedicine has become an established modality of care in pediatric neurology since the COVID-19 pandemic made it a necessity. However, prominent barriers have persisted for socially vulnerable families, including non-English-speaking families. In a cohort of Spanish-speaking families, we assessed the effect of an educational intervention in improving patient portal activation and use of telemedicine by doing a retrospective observational study. Among the 69 families assessed, 42 did not receive intervention, including 74% who already had patient portals and 26% without portal activation, and none of those 11 families subsequently activated the portal or underwent telemedicine. Among 27 families who received the intervention, 85% activated the portal, including 87% who participated in telemedicine visits. Results did not achieve statistical significance for accessing telemedicine but did for activating the portal. We postulate that a simple, brief educational intervention was effective in increasing access to neurologic telemedicine care in non-English-speaking families.
First Page
8830738251337981
Last Page
8830738251337981
ISSN
1708-8283
Published In/Presented At
McDonnell, P. P., Ortiz, Y., Abend, N. S., Kaufman, M. C., Xian, J., Gonzalez, A. K., Molisani, S., & Helbig, I. (2025). A Simple Intervention Improves Access to Telemedicine for Spanish-Speaking Families in an Outpatient Pediatric Epilepsy Clinic. Journal of child neurology, 8830738251337981. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/08830738251337981
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Pediatrics
PubMedID
40368346
Department(s)
Department of Pediatrics
Document Type
Article