Perspectives on telemedicine across urban, rural and remote areas in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES

This study explored attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control of participants across urban, rural and remote settings and examined intention-to-use telemedicine (defined in this study as remote patient-clinician consultations) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study. 12 focus group discussions were conducted with 60 diverse telemedicine user and non-user participants across 3 study settings. Analysis of responses was done to understand the attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control of participants. This explored the relationship between the aforementioned factors and intention to use.

RESULTS

Both users and non-users of telemedicine relayed that the benefits of telemedicine include protection from COVID-19 exposure, decreased out-of-pocket expenses and better work-life balance. Both groups also relayed perceived barriers to telemedicine. Users from the urban site relayed that the lack of preferred physicians discouraged use. Users from the rural and remote sites were concerned about spending on resources (ie, compatible smartphones) to access telemedicine. Non-users from all three sites mentioned that they would not try telemedicine if they felt overwhelmed prior to access.

DISCUSSION

First-hand experiences, peer promotions, and maximising resource support instil hope that telemedicine can help people gain more access to healthcare. However, utilisation will remain low if patients feel overwhelmed by the behavioural modifications and material resources needed to access telemedicine. Boosting infrastructure must come with improving confidence and trust among people.

CONCLUSION

Sustainable access beyond the pandemic requires an understanding of factors that prevent usage. Sufficient investment in infrastructure and other related resources is needed if telemedicine will be used to address inequities in healthcare access, especially in rural and remote areas.