“They felt like safe questions in a safe environment” : A qualitative study examining the implementation of an Indigenous virtual primary care patient experience tool

ObjectiveIndigenous people face inequities when accessing primary care. It is critical to center Indigenous people and their lived experiences within primary care improvements to address these ongoing inequities.MethodsUsing the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), the purpose of this study was to understand the barriers and facilitators to implementation of an Indigenous patient experience tool in virtual care.ResultsNineteen interviews were completed with participants that included 12 patients and seven physicians and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Themes endorsed by participants were directly related to four TDF domains: 1) Beliefs about consequences; 2) Environmental context and resources; 3) Skills; and 4) Knowledge. This study found that both patients and providers found the implementation and use of the Access, Relationships, Quality, and Safety (ARQS) tool both useful and relevant.ConclusionFuture research should explore if sustained and recurrent use of the tool within therapeutic relationships leads to improvements in the delivery of virtual primary healthcare.