Kaliyadan Feroze, A Al Ameer Mohammed, Al Ameer Ali, Al Alwan Qasem
Dermatology, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, SAU.
Dermatology, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, SAU.
Cureus. 2020 Dec 9;12(12):e12004. doi: 10.7759/cureus.12004.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased use of telemedicine. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate attitudes and behaviors of licensed physicians in the region to telemedicine.
A cross-sectional design using an electronic survey as the primary tool was done. The questionnaire had a demographic component of the respondent (first part), covering age, specialty, and experience with telemedicine during the COVID pandemic, and a second part, which was in the form of a Likert scale, covering perceptions related to telemedicine. The Likert scale itself had two main areas: (1) attitudes toward telemedicine and (2) perceived barriers.
There were 392 valid responses of which 228 (58.1%) had used some form of telemedicine (other than standard phone calls) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most common platforms used for telemedicine include WhatsApp (211, 53.8%), Zoom (131, 33.4%), Microsoft Teams (27, 6.2%), Sehha App (65, 16.5%), Email (84, 21.4%). There was a strong agreement on the following statements: "Telemedicine can reduce unnecessary outpatient visits" (87.5%), "Effectiveness of telemedicine depends on the specialty" (89.5%), and "Telemedicine can be used to monitor chronic patients from home" (88.3%). Concerning the barriers to telemedicine, the ones having the most concordance were technological limitations (66.6%) and concerns of diagnostic reliability (66.1%).
The responses from our study seem to suggest that while the attitudes toward telemedicine are positive, practicing physicians are concerned about a perceived lack of clarity regarding related legal frameworks and barriers such as technological issues, cultural factors, and diagnostic concordance.
新冠疫情导致远程医疗的使用增加。本研究的主要目的是评估该地区执业医师对远程医疗的态度和行为。
采用横断面设计，以电子调查问卷作为主要工具。问卷第一部分为受访者的人口统计学信息，涵盖年龄、专业以及在新冠疫情期间使用远程医疗的经历；第二部分为李克特量表形式，涵盖与远程医疗相关的认知。李克特量表本身有两个主要方面：（1）对远程医疗的态度；（2）感知到的障碍。
共收到392份有效回复，其中228份（58.1%）在新冠疫情期间使用过某种形式的远程医疗（不包括标准电话）。最常用的远程医疗平台包括WhatsApp（211份，53.8%）、Zoom（131份，33.4%）、Microsoft Teams（27份，6.2%）、Sehha App（65份，16.5%）、电子邮件（84份，21.4%）。对于以下陈述存在强烈共识：“远程医疗可减少不必要的门诊就诊”（87.5%）、“远程医疗的有效性取决于专业”（89.5%）以及“远程医疗可用于在家中监测慢性病患者”（88.3%）。关于远程医疗的障碍，最一致的是技术限制（66.6%）和对诊断可靠性的担忧（66.1%）。
我们研究的回复似乎表明，虽然对远程医疗的态度是积极的，但执业医师担心相关法律框架缺乏明确性以及技术问题、文化因素和诊断一致性等障碍。
