%0 Journal Article
%T Discovering untapped relationship potential with patients in telehealth: a qualitative interview study
%A Axel Wolf
%A Birgit Heckemann
%A Inger Ekman
%A Lilas Ali
%A Steffen Mark Sonntag
%J -
%D 2016
%R 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009750
%X Objectives To explore factors that influence relationship building between telehealth professionals and patients with chronic illness over a distance, from a telehealth professional's perspective.

Design 4 focus group interviews were conducted in June 2014. Digital recordings were transcribed verbatim and qualitative content analysis was performed using an iterative process of 3 coding rounds.

Participants 20 telehealth professionals.

Setting A telehealth service centre in the south of Germany that provided care for 12£¿000 patients with chronic heart failure across Germany.

Results Non-video telehealth technology creates an atmosphere that fosters sharing of personal information and a non-judgemental attitude. This facilitates the delivery of fair and equal healthcare. A combination of a protocol-driven service structure along with shared team and organisational values provide a basis for establishing long-term healthcare relationships. However, each contact between a telehealth professional and a patient has an uncertain outcome and requires skilful negotiation of the relationship. Although care provision was personalised, there was scope to include the patients as ¡®experts on their own illness¡¯ to a greater extent as advocated by person-centred care. Currently, provision of person-centred care is not sufficiently addressed in telehealth professional training.

Conclusions Telehealth offers a viable environment for the delivery of person-centred care for patients with long-standing disease. Current telehealth training programmes may be enhanced by teaching person-centred care skills
%U https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/3/e009750