# Translating Telehealth Communication Research Into Patient-Centered, Implementable Practice

## TL;DR

This paper discusses how to improve communication in virtual doctor visits by applying research findings to real-world practice.

## Contribution

It connects communication research to the ERIC framework for implementing organizational change in telehealth.

## Key findings

- Patient and clinician communication challenges in virtual care need to be addressed for safe care.
- Existing mitigation strategies can be applied using the ERIC framework to drive organizational change.
- More research is needed to compare phone and video-based consultation communication strategies.

## Abstract

Understanding both patient and clinician perspectives on communication challenges in virtual primary care consultations is important to ensure safe and effective care. This commentary reviews the important work of Alboksmaty and colleagues, highlighting their contributions and noting some limitations. To further support translation of clinical practice–based recommendations from this original research, this commentary relates the study findings to patient-centered communication frameworks and evidence-based virtual communication strategies. This commentary also extends the helpful mitigation strategies offered in the original research, demonstrating how they apply to the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) implementation framework to facilitate organization-based change. The need for additional research differentiating phone-based and videoconferencing-based primary care consultation communication strategies is highlighted.