| Summary: | It is estimated that one out of every five household with children in the United States includes a Child with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN). Families of CSHCN face many challenges including financial burdens beyond that of other families and difficulty accessing much needed pediatric specialty care. Telemedicine provides a potential solution or, at the least, an alternative to the traditional system of care, for health care providers and communities to address access and financial concerns of families of CSHCN. A quasi-experimental research design was used in this study to examine the differences in cost, caring, and family-centered care in relation to pediatric specialty services utilizing telemedicine technology compared to traditional face-to-face care. The study sample included a convenience sample of 222 parents/ guardians of CSHCN residing in rural, remote and medically underserved areas of Southeast Florida enrolled in the Children's Medical Services (CMS) program. The sample was comprised of two study groups: traditional (n = 110) which included families receiving traditional face-to-face pediatric specialty care; and the telemedicine group (n = 112) which included families who have received telemedicine visits along with traditional face-to-face pediatric specialty care. Measures of cost, caring, and family-centered care were obtained using three instruments including a Family Cost Survey, Caring Professional Scale (CPS), and Measure of Processes of Care- 20 Item Scale (MPOC-20). Results indicated that there were no significant differences in family costs when telemedicine was available locally compared to traditional face-to-face care in the local community. Family costs were anticipated to be significantly higher if telemedicine was not available in their communities. There were no differences in the families' perceptions of care as caring for the telemedicine and traditional groups. Results indicated significant differences between the groups in regards to family-centered care, with telemedicine group parents/ guardians reporting more positive perceptions of the system of care as family-centered compared to families receiving traditional face-to-face pediatric specialty care. These results together underscore the importance of assuring and facilitating access to pediatric specialty care for CSHCN and their families by further reducing their burdens and costs. The use of innovative systems of care such as telemedicine has promise to promote caring, family-centered systems of care in their home communities. Future research is recommended to further examine nursing roles and interventions in telemedicine programs, measurement tools, and family perceptions of systems of care across different populations.
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