Gaewkhiew Piyada, Kittiratchakool Nitichen, Suwanpanich Chotika, Saeraneesopon Thanayut, Athibodee Thanakit, Kumluang Suthasinee, Chuanchaiyakul Tanainan, Liu Sichen, Chanpanitkitchot Saranya, Laosuangkul Arthit, Isaranuwatchai Wanrudee
Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Department of Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Telemed Rep. 2024 Aug 5;5(1):237-246. doi: 10.1089/tmr.2024.0027. eCollection 2024.
COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine for counseling, follow-up examination, and treatment purposes. The official guidelines in Thailand were launched to regulate or frame the protocols for health care professions and teams in different organizations.
To explore the trend of telemedicine utilization in selected hospitals in Thailand and to understand the characteristics of patients who used telemedicine from 2020 to 2023.
This retrospective secondary data analysis was conducted in four hospitals in Thailand: two tertiary care (T1 and T2) hospitals, one secondary care (SN) hospital, and one specialized (SP) hospital. Data were routinely collected when services were provided and were categorized into telemedicine outpatient department (OPD) visits or onsite OPD visits. The data included demographic information (age, sex), date and year of service, location (province and health region), and primary diagnosis (using International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision codes). Descriptive analysis was conducted using R and STATA software.
All four hospitals reported an increase in telemedicine use from 2020 to 2023. The majority of telemedicine users were female (>65%) at all hospitals except for the SP hospital (44%). Participants aged 25-59 years reported greater utilization of telemedicine than did the other age-groups. The within-hospital comparison between OPD visits before and after telemedicine was significant ( < 0.001).
The situation during the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to the post-COVID-19 era impacted telemedicine utilization, which could support national monitoring and evaluation policies. However, further studies are needed to explore other aspects, including changes in telemedicine utilization over time for longer timeframes, effectiveness of telemedicine, and consumer satisfaction.
新冠疫情加速了远程医疗在咨询、随访检查及治疗方面的应用。泰国发布了官方指南，以规范或制定不同组织中医疗保健专业人员和团队的诊疗方案。
探讨泰国部分医院远程医疗的使用趋势，并了解2020年至2023年期间使用远程医疗的患者特征。
本回顾性二次数据分析在泰国的四家医院进行：两家三级医疗（T1和T2）医院、一家二级医疗（SN）医院和一家专科医院（SP）。数据在提供服务时常规收集，并分为远程医疗门诊（OPD）就诊或现场OPD就诊。数据包括人口统计学信息（年龄、性别）、服务日期和年份、地点（省份和健康区域）以及主要诊断（使用《国际疾病和相关健康问题统计分类第十次修订本》代码）。使用R和STATA软件进行描述性分析。
所有四家医院均报告2020年至2023年期间远程医疗的使用有所增加。除专科医院（44%）外，所有医院中大多数远程医疗用户为女性（>65%）。25至59岁的参与者报告的远程医疗使用率高于其他年龄组。远程医疗前后OPD就诊的院内比较具有显著性（<0.001）。
新冠疫情期间的情况以及向新冠后时代的过渡影响了远程医疗的使用，这可为国家监测和评估政策提供支持。然而，需要进一步研究以探索其他方面，包括更长时间内远程医疗使用随时间的变化、远程医疗的有效性以及消费者满意度。
