Telephone versus video consultations: A systematic review of consumer and provider preferences

Introduction:
As telehealth services are increasingly utilised and mature, it is important to continue to assess the preferences of both consumers and providers to ensure that these services are being used in the most acceptable and effective manner. This review aims to analyse both consumer and provider preferences for telephone and video consultations.

Methods:
A systematic search of MEDLINE, CINAHL and Embase databases was conducted in April 2023 to identify studies that investigated consumer or provider preferences for either telephone or video consultations. Data were extracted and synthesised narratively with the main reported findings from each article categorised in regard to modality preference (i.e. preference for either telephone or video; no preference between modality, equivalency, or mixed preference statements).

Results:
A total of 78 articles were included in the analysis. Studies were published between 2003 and 2023, with the majority (86%) published after 2020. While most studies used quantitative survey methods (69.2%), five used qualitative (6.4%) and 19 used a mixed methods approach (24.4%). The majority of included studies (54% of consumer studies and 76% of provider studies) reported video as the preferred telehealth modality over telephone.

Discussion:
Although video is mostly preferred over telephone, a number of consumer studies reported equivalent preference for telephone and video consultations and highlighted the benefits of each modality for different purposes.