1 Department of Public Health, University of Sciences , Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali .
2 Population Health Program, University of Ottawa , Ontario, Canada .
Telemed J E Health. 2018 Nov;24(11):897-898. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2017.0276. Epub 2018 Feb 22.
In Senegal, physicians are unevenly distributed, leading to unequal access to healthcare in underserved areas. Telemedicine is seen as a potential means to address this problem.
Telemedicine's potential to improve access depends, in part, on physicians' intention to use the technology. In Senegal that intention is not well known. This study aimed to determine that intention and the factors that influence it.
We conducted a cross-sectional study between January and February 2015 with a random sample of 168 physicians working in public hospitals and 153 in district health centers in Senegal. Data were collected using two questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, and linear regression.
The intention to use telemedicine by physicians working in public hospitals and district health centers was moderate and was positively correlated with their attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. The intention of the physicians working in public hospitals was also positively correlated with their region and status as contract employee, but negatively with their status as government employee. That of the physicians working in district health centers was negatively correlated with their age and years of practice.
These results showed that, overall, the intention of Senegal's physicians to use telemedicine was moderate and could be improved by acting on factors related to their perceived behavioral control and other factors correlated with their intention.
Physicians' intention to use telemedicine in Senegal is fair but could be improved by addressing the factors identified in this study.
在塞内加尔，医生分布不均，导致服务不足地区的医疗服务获得不平等。远程医疗被视为解决这一问题的潜在手段。
远程医疗改善可及性的潜力在一定程度上取决于医生使用该技术的意愿。在塞内加尔，这种意图并不为人所知。本研究旨在确定这种意图及其影响因素。
我们于 2015 年 1 月至 2 月期间在塞内加尔进行了一项横断面研究，随机抽取了 168 名在公立医院工作的医生和 153 名在地区卫生中心工作的医生作为样本。数据通过两份问卷收集，并使用描述性统计、相关性和线性回归进行分析。
在公立医院和地区卫生中心工作的医生使用远程医疗的意愿是中等的，与他们的态度、主观规范和感知行为控制呈正相关。公立医院医生的意愿也与他们的地区和合同工身份呈正相关，但与公务员身份呈负相关。在地区卫生中心工作的医生的意愿与他们的年龄和行医年限呈负相关。
这些结果表明，总的来说，塞内加尔医生使用远程医疗的意愿是中等的，可以通过影响与感知行为控制相关的因素和与他们的意愿相关的其他因素来提高。
塞内加尔医生使用远程医疗的意愿尚可，但可以通过解决本研究中确定的因素来提高。
