Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Beirut Arab University, Beirut, Lebanon.
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
Telemed J E Health. 2022 Feb;28(2):219-226. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2021.0090. Epub 2021 May 17.
The use of technology in the medical field has been rising rapidly and offering, in many cases, an alternative to traditional ways of practicing medicine, especially when remote medical services are required. This background has laid the foundation for telemedicine to play a role in controlling the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Telemedicine has the potential to allow the facilitation of providing the necessary medical care to patients without exposing them to contact with other patients or the general population. The aim of this study was to investigate the utilization of telemedicine by the Lebanese physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional online study was conducted using LimeSurvey through an e-mail-based questionnaire sent to physicians currently enrolled in both Beirut and Tripoli Lebanese Order of Physicians. Four hundred one physicians completed the survey resulting in a response rate of 5.85%. Most of the respondents ( = 401, 75.8%) reported using telemedicine to provide health care services to patients without in-person visits during the pandemic. Among those using telemedicine ( = 304), around 40% reported that they started using it during COVID-19 pandemic. Literature states that the average time of an in-person clinic consultation is more than 15 min. This implies that telemedicine can play a role in saving physicians' time; this conclusion is supported by other studies that consider telemedicine a time-saving method of providing health care services. Our study indicated that telemedicine is used by the majority of Lebanese physicians and that this use has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results showed that telemedicine does have a potential that can allow it to be integrated in the health care system and implemented on a national organized level.
在医学领域，技术的应用迅速增长，在许多情况下，为传统的医疗方式提供了替代方案，尤其是在需要远程医疗服务的情况下。这为远程医疗在控制当前的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行中发挥作用奠定了基础。远程医疗有可能在不使患者与其他患者或一般人群接触的情况下，为患者提供必要的医疗服务。本研究旨在调查 COVID-19 大流行期间黎巴嫩医生对远程医疗的利用情况。这项横断面在线研究使用基于 LimeSurvey 的在线问卷通过电子邮件发送给目前在贝鲁特和的黎波里的黎巴嫩医师协会注册的医生。共有 401 名医生完成了调查，响应率为 5.85%。大多数受访者（=401，75.8%）报告在大流行期间通过远程医疗向患者提供无需亲自就诊的医疗保健服务。在使用远程医疗的（=304）受访者中，约有 40%的人报告他们在 COVID-19 大流行期间开始使用远程医疗。文献表明，门诊就诊的平均时间超过 15 分钟。这意味着远程医疗可以在节省医生时间方面发挥作用；这一结论得到了其他研究的支持，这些研究认为远程医疗是提供医疗服务的一种节省时间的方法。我们的研究表明，远程医疗被大多数黎巴嫩医生使用，而且这种使用方式因 COVID-19 大流行而加速。我们的研究结果表明，远程医疗确实具有潜力，可以将其纳入医疗保健系统，并在国家组织层面上实施。
