Emergency Management & Disaster Medicine Department., School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, 39040 Tel Aviv, Israel.
Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jul 20;17(14):5236. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17145236.
Providing health services through remote communications for sub-acute health issues during emergencies may help reduce the burden of the health care system and increase availability of care. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes of the public towards receiving medical services and providing medical information through remote communication in times of emergencies. During the pandemic outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), pandemic outbreak, 507 participants answered a structured online survey, rating their mean willingness to receive medical care and provide medical information, on a four-point Likert scale. Furthermore, demographic characteristics, social media use, and trust in data protection was collected. The mean willingness to receive medical services was 3.1 ± 0.6 and the mean willingness to provide medical information was 3.0 ± 0.7, with a strong significant correlation between the two ( = 0.76). The multiple regression model identified higher trust in data protection, level of education, and social media use as statistically significant predictors for a higher willingness to receive medical information while the first two predicted willingness to provide information. The findings suggest an overall positive attitude to receive medical care through remote communications.
在紧急情况下通过远程通信提供针对亚急性健康问题的医疗服务，可能有助于减轻医疗保健系统的负担并增加医疗服务的可及性。本研究旨在调查公众在紧急情况下通过远程通信接受医疗服务和提供医疗信息的态度。在新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行期间，507 名参与者回答了一项结构化的在线调查，对他们通过远程通信接受医疗服务和提供医疗信息的平均意愿进行了四点李克特量表评分。此外，还收集了人口统计学特征、社交媒体使用情况和对数据保护的信任度。接受医疗服务的平均意愿为 3.1 ± 0.6，提供医疗信息的平均意愿为 3.0 ± 0.7，两者之间存在强显著相关性（r = 0.76）。多元回归模型确定，对数据保护的信任度、教育水平和社交媒体使用是更高的提供医疗信息意愿的统计学显著预测因素，而前两个因素则预测了提供信息的意愿。研究结果表明，人们总体上对通过远程通信接受医疗服务持积极态度。
