Exploring Clients' Experiences of Transitioning Mental Health Nursing Care from an In-Person to a Virtual Format due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Jean-Laurent Domingue, Lisa Murata, Chijindu Ukagwu and 4 others
PMID 38092681WHAT IT FOUND
Clients living with schizophrenia or psychotic spectrum conditions described virtual mental health nursing care as helpful but uneven.
It reduced travel and helped some attend morning groups, yet hardware access, anxiety, privacy worries and lost in-person social connection made it a compromise, not a replacement.
Key findings
01Clients were satisfied with virtual nursing care but said it should not replace in-person services.
02Virtual care was more convenient than in-person care, but its benefits depended on having the necessary hardware and internet connection.
03Clients described nurses as helping them obtain equipment, learn videoconferencing software and troubleshoot during calls.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only six clients, so it describes their experiences rather than estimating what most clients think. Only clients who had access to virtual nursing care were interviewed, so people who could not join because they lacked devices or internet are not represented. All clients came from one outpatient program, limiting the range of experiences. Participants were mostly middle-aged White individuals with high-school-level education, so perspectives of Black, Indigenous and other persons of colour, younger adults, older adults and people with different education levels may be missing. One client's interview was documented by notes rather than audio recording.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding came from University of Ottawa, Faculty of Health Sciences, Start-up Funds (JLD).
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that virtual mental health nursing care is effective or should replace in-person care. It reports experiences of six clients, not clinical outcomes, and participants described both benefits and serious access, anxiety, privacy and social-connection problems.