Masters Ken, Loda Teresa, Johannink Jonas, Al-Abri Rashid, Herrmann-Werner Anne
Medical Education and Informatics Department, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoud, Oman.
Medical Department VI, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Mar 9;22(3):e14646. doi: 10.2196/14646.
Doctors' interactions with and attitudes toward e-patients have an overall impact on health care delivery.
This study aimed to gauge surgeons' interactions with e-patients, their attitudes toward those e-patient activities, the possible impact on the delivery of health care, and the reasons behind those activities and attitudes.
We created a paper-based and electronic survey form based on pertinent variables identified in the literature, and from March 2018 to July 2018 we surveyed 49 surgeons in Germany and 59 surgeons in Oman, asking them about their interactions with and attitudes toward e-patients. Data were stored in Microsoft Excel and SPSS, and descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and chi-square tests were performed on the data.
Of our sample, 71% (35/49) of the German surgeons and 56% (33/59) of the Omani surgeons communicated electronically with their patients. Although the German surgeons spent a greater percentage of Internet usage time on work-related activities (χ=32.5; P=.02) than the Omani surgeons, there were many similarities in their activities. An outstanding difference was that the German surgeons used email with their patients more than the Omani surgeons (χ=9.0; P=.003), and the Omani surgeons used social media, specifically WhatsApp, more than the German surgeons (χ=18.6; P<.001). Overall, the surgeons were equally positive about the most common e-patient activities such as bringing material from the internet to the consultation (mean 4.11, SD 1.6), although the German surgeons (mean 3.43, SD 1.9) were more concerned (P=.001) than the Omani surgeons (mean 2.32, SD 1.3) about the potential loss of control and time consumption (German: mean 5.10, SD 1.4 and Omani: mean 3.92, SD 1.6; P<.001).
The interactions show a high degree of engagement with e-patients. The differences between the German and the Omani surgeons in the preferred methods of communication are possibly closely linked to cultural differences and recent historical events. These differences may, moreover, indicate e-patients' desired method of electronic communication to include social media. The low impact of surgeons' attitudes on the activities may also result from a normalization of many e-patient activities, irrespective of the doctors' attitudes and influences.
医生与电子患者的互动及态度对医疗服务有全面影响。
本研究旨在评估外科医生与电子患者的互动情况、他们对这些电子患者活动的态度、对医疗服务提供可能产生的影响以及这些活动和态度背后的原因。
我们根据文献中确定的相关变量创建了纸质和电子调查问卷，在2018年3月至2018年7月期间，对德国的49名外科医生和阿曼的59名外科医生进行了调查，询问他们与电子患者的互动及态度。数据存储在Microsoft Excel和SPSS中，并对数据进行描述性统计、Pearson相关性分析和卡方检验。
在我们的样本中，71%（35/49）的德国外科医生和56%（33/59）的阿曼外科医生与患者进行电子通信。尽管德国外科医生在与工作相关活动上花费的互联网使用时间百分比（χ=32.5；P=.02）高于阿曼外科医生，但他们的活动有许多相似之处。一个显著差异是，德国外科医生比阿曼外科医生更多地使用电子邮件与患者沟通（χ=9.0；P=.003），而阿曼外科医生比德国外科医生更多地使用社交媒体，特别是WhatsApp（χ=18.6；P<.001）。总体而言，外科医生对最常见的电子患者活动，如将互联网上的资料带到会诊中，看法同样积极（均值4.11，标准差1.6），尽管德国外科医生（均值3.43，标准差1.9）比阿曼外科医生（均值2.32，标准差1.3）更担心（P=.001）潜在的控制权丧失和时间消耗问题（德国：均值5.10，标准差1.4；阿曼：均值3.92，标准差1.6；P<.001）。
这些互动表明与电子患者有高度的参与度。德国和阿曼外科医生在首选沟通方式上的差异可能与文化差异和近期历史事件密切相关。此外，这些差异可能表明电子患者期望的电子通信方式包括社交媒体。外科医生的态度对这些活动的影响较小，也可能是因为许多电子患者活动已常态化，而不受医生态度和影响。
