Healthcare Professionals' Experiences of Telemedicine Supporting Outpatient Endometriosis Care: A Qualitative Study of Tele-Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

Background: Telemedicine may advance endometriosis care, but few initiatives are integrated in outpatient follow-up. A novel telemedicine approach—tele-patient-reported outcome measures (telePROM)—includes an endometriosis-specific questionnaire and phone and video consultations combined with text messaging (chat) with a multidisciplinary endometriosis team. This study explores how healthcare professionals experience telePROM and its integration in clinical practice. Methods: A qualitative study guided by interpretive description methodology. Data were generated through observations and focus group interviews conducted between January 2023 and March 2024 at a referral centre for endometriosis within a university hospital. A purposive sample of ten healthcare professionals comprising physicians, nurses and a medical secretary participated in the focus group interviews. Inductive analysis was inspired by interpretive description and carried out through an iterative process involving four steps, leading to the development of final themes and interpretation. Results: Three themes were identified from analysis: (1) Balancing Personalised Care With Increased Clinical Complexity; (2) Changing Professional Boundaries in a Digitally Supported Care Model; and (3) System Friction and Flexibility when Integrating TelePROM. Conclusions: Telemedicine improved endometriosis care by supporting patient-initiated and personalised consultations. However, sustainable, effective, and safe integration of telemedicine appears to require clinical experience, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supervision. Text communication (chat) proved to be an important element to ensure collection of additional information to complement patient-reported outcomes and it is essential for patient triage; yet it is rarely described in the literature. Ensuring organisational resilience during the digital transformation of healthcare requires ongoing training of healthcare professionals’ communicative and digital competences and may necessitate restructured technical support, including designated telemedicine experts in clinical practice to eliminate technical disruptions. These initiatives may contribute to and support the future implementation of telemedicine in healthcare.