Virtual health care for children: Parental willingness to adopt virtual health-care technologies

Aim To understand parental awareness and appetite for virtual health modalities, including asynchronous communication and remote monitoring. To understand which socio-demographic characteristics are associated with greater awareness and appetite for virtual health. Methods Nationally representative survey of Australian parents, recruited via an online panel in February 2021 as part of the Royal Children's Hospital National Child Health Poll. Participants were randomly selected from the consumer panel. Results 1981 (59.4% response rate) parents completed the survey. 39.9% were aware of virtual health care, defined by digital technology and medical devices to support remote monitoring. Higher levels of awareness were associated with being male, having previous teleconsultation experience, higher education attainment and employment. Most parents reported an appetite for asynchronous communication using an app or website to either provide information prior to a consult (65.9%), provide a photo of a rash or similar (61.7%) or receive medical advice (58.1%). Appetite for wearable devices was similar at 59.9%. Conclusions Whilst awareness of virtual healthcare was low, appetite exists amongst Australian parents to use technology to support their child's health care. Health-care models, which incorporate asynchronous communication or symptom monitoring through apps, are likely to be acceptable and offer an accessible and sustainable alternative to traditional face-to-face health care.