Department of Primary Care Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Institute for General Medicine, Johannes-Kepler-University, Linz, Austria.
BMC Prim Care. 2023 Oct 24;24(Suppl 1):218. doi: 10.1186/s12875-023-02113-6.
The SARS-CoV2 pandemic as well as the implementation of public health measures to decrease the spread of the virus re-sparked the call for "virtual" health or "distance" treatments. This paper aimed to assess the use of video consultations, the up-to-dateness of practice websites, and the views of GPs on whether eHealth is a positive aspect for the future of their practices in publicly -funded primary healthcare facilities in Austria.
The cross-sectional online questionnaire, part of the PRICOV-19 study, was conducted from December 2020 until July 2021. We randomly recruited 176 GP practices across Austria. Descriptive statistics as well as binary logistic regression models were applied to examine the associations between telemedicine use and practice factors.
Compared with before the pandemic (3.8%), 7.6% of publicly funded GP practices have been using video consultations since the pandemic. In line with this, 93.9% of the practices had no increase in video consultation use. Fewer than half (44.3%) had an up-to-date webpage, and 27.8% assumed that the pandemic might have been a positive driver for eHealth in their practices. Positive associations with video consultation use could be found in practices with fewer patients aged 70 years and over than the average and more patients with chronic diseases than the average.
The use of video consultations in general practice and the readiness for other telemedicine approaches are both very low in Austria. Austria has to urgently follow the example of countries with a transparent and comprehensive national digital health strategy that includes video consultation. Without a proper payment system, patient inclusion, and support with regard to administrative and organizational aspects, no substantial change will occur in spite of an increase in need due to the pandemic and changes in the patient population.
SARS-CoV2 大流行以及为减少病毒传播而实施的公共卫生措施再次引发了对“虚拟”健康或“远程”治疗的呼吁。本文旨在评估视频咨询的使用情况、实践网站的最新情况以及全科医生对电子健康是否是其在奥地利公共资助的初级保健设施未来实践的积极方面的看法。
横断面在线问卷调查是 PRICOV-19 研究的一部分，于 2020 年 12 月至 2021 年 7 月进行。我们在奥地利随机招募了 176 家全科医生诊所。应用描述性统计和二元逻辑回归模型来检查远程医疗使用与实践因素之间的关联。
与大流行前（3.8%）相比，自大流行以来，7.6%的公共资助全科医生诊所已开始使用视频咨询。与此一致的是，93.9%的诊所没有增加视频咨询的使用。不到一半（44.3%）的诊所拥有最新的网页，并且 27.8%的诊所认为大流行可能是推动其实践中电子健康发展的积极因素。与视频咨询使用呈正相关的是患者中 70 岁及以上患者少于平均水平，患有慢性疾病的患者多于平均水平。
在奥地利，全科医疗中视频咨询的使用以及对其他远程医疗方法的准备情况都非常低。奥地利必须效仿那些具有透明和全面的国家数字健康战略的国家，该战略包括视频咨询。如果没有适当的支付系统、患者纳入以及在行政和组织方面的支持，即使由于大流行和患者人群的变化导致需求增加，也不会发生实质性变化。
