Pediatric Virtual Visits as a Strategy for Access to Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Pediatric Hospital

Pediatric visits are a fundamental axis of health policies because actions to promote and protect health have a maximum effect on children. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic a marked decrease in pediatric visits was observed in scheduled and on-call visits. This fact can be explained by the restriction on people's circulation necessary to contain COVID-19 dissemination. In this context, the population that attends the Hospital General de Niños Pedro de Elizalde was especially affected, since 91% of the patients attending the institution live in another district.

In order to overcome this barrier in access to care, we decided to implement a Telehealth Program that uses virtual visits as a tool for access to care. Little is known about the effects that these programs can have on patients with exclusive public health coverage. Although virtual visits could be a solution for access to care in an oversaturated system, there is the possibility that virtual visits could not be carried out and that a significant proportion will be lost, increasing inequity and difficulties in access to health.

Due to the relevance of the topic and the little information available, we propose in this study to estimate the proportion of virtual visits appointments lost. On the other hand, considering the possibility of avoiding the loss of virtual visits appointments, we propose to describe the factors associated with missed appointments and develop a predictive model that serves as the basis for improving the Telehealth Program.

Inclusion criteria

• All scheduled virtual visits

Exclusion criteria

• On-call virtual visits