Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, OK, USA.
Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at Cherokee Nation, Office of Medical Student Research, Tahlequah, OK, USA.
J Osteopath Med. 2024 Jun 11;124(10):455-462. doi: 10.1515/jom-2024-0023. eCollection 2024 Oct 1.
The use of telemedicine strategies has been increasing in the United States for more than a decade, with physicians taking advantage of this new tool to reach more patients. Determining the specific demographics of physicians utilizing telemedicine most in their practice can inform recommendations for expanded telemedicine use among all physicians and aid in mitigating the need for local physicians in urban and rural populations.
This study aims to assess the use of telemedicine by physicians in 2021, based on four demographics utilizing the National Electronic Health Record Survey (NEHRS): physician age, sex, specialty, and training.
We performed a cross-sectional study of the 2021 NEHRS to determine the relationship between physician characteristics and telemedicine practices. Differences between groups were measured through design-based chi-square tests.
Compared to male physicians, female physicians were more likely to utilize telemedicine services ( =8.0; p=0.005). Compared to younger physicians, those over the age of 50 were less likely to utilize telemedicine services ( =4.1; p=0.04). Compared to primary care physicians, medical and surgical specialty physicians were less likely to utilize telemedicine services, with surgical specialty physicians being the least likely overall ( =11.5; p<0.001). We found no significant differences in telemedicine use based on degree (Osteopathic and Allopathic).
Our results showed a statistically significant difference between physician's age, sex, and specialty on telemedicine use in practice during 2021. Efforts to increase telemedicine use among physicians may be needed to provide more accessible care to patients. Thus, by increasing physician education on the importance of telemedicine for modern patients, more physicians may decide to utilize telemedicine services in practice.
在美国，使用远程医疗策略已经有十多年的历史了，医生们利用这一新工具来接触更多的患者。确定在实践中最常使用远程医疗的医生的具体人口统计学特征，可以为所有医生扩大远程医疗使用提供建议，并有助于缓解城市和农村人口对当地医生的需求。
本研究旨在根据国家电子健康记录调查（NEHRS）中的四个人口统计学因素（医生年龄、性别、专业和培训）评估 2021 年医生使用远程医疗的情况。
我们对 2021 年 NEHRS 进行了横断面研究，以确定医生特征与远程医疗实践之间的关系。通过基于设计的卡方检验来衡量组间差异。
与男性医生相比，女性医生更有可能使用远程医疗服务（ =8.0；p=0.005）。与年轻医生相比，50 岁以上的医生不太可能使用远程医疗服务（ =4.1；p=0.04）。与初级保健医生相比，内科和外科专业医生不太可能使用远程医疗服务，其中外科专业医生总体上最不可能使用（ =11.5；p<0.001）。我们没有发现基于学位（骨科和全科）的远程医疗使用的显著差异。
我们的结果表明，2021 年医生的年龄、性别和专业在实践中使用远程医疗方面存在统计学上的显著差异。可能需要加大力度增加医生对远程医疗对现代患者重要性的认识，以增加医生在实践中使用远程医疗服务的意愿。因此，通过增加医生对远程医疗对现代患者重要性的教育，更多的医生可能会决定在实践中使用远程医疗服务。
