Smoła Paulina, Młoźniak Iwona, Wojcieszko Monika, Zwierczyk Urszula, Kobryn Mateusz, Rzepecka Elżbieta, Duplaga Mariusz
Department of Health Promotion and e-Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Skawińska Str. 20, Krakow, 31-066, Poland.
Department of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Skawińska Str. 20, Krakow, 31-066, Poland.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2024 Dec 18;24(1):381. doi: 10.1186/s12911-024-02791-x.
E-health entails the use of information and communication technologies in support of health and health-related activities. E-health increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The pandemic showed that the e-health environment may be an important element of the response to epidemiological challenges. Polish citizens were provided with an array of e-health tools supporting the provision of health services.
The main aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, use, and opinions about e-health solutions in Polish society. Fifty participants representing the general population took part in in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted face-to-face with participants in their homes or via a teleconferencing platform from November 2023 to January 2024. At first, the interviewees were recruited by convenience, and at a later stage, a snowballing approach was applied. A semi-structured guide covered the knowledge about and use of e-health solutions, attitudes toward new technologies, and opinions about artificial intelligence and robots in healthcare. The interviewers interviewed 50 participants, of whom 26 were females. The interview transcriptions were analyzed with MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2022 (Release 22.7.0). An approach based on thematic analysis was employed to evaluate the interviews' content.
Thematic analysis of the interviews resulted in the identification of three main themes: (1) knowledge about e-health, (2) barriers, and (3) facilitators of e-health use. Recognition of the term 'e-health' was limited among study participants, although they used e-health solutions frequently. The main barriers included limited digital skills and unfavorable attitudes to new technologies. Some of the participants complained about technical difficulties, e.g., poor Internet access. The main facilitators identified based on the interviews include saving time and reducing costs, as well as the ability to access medical records in one repository, as in the case of the Internet Patient Account. Some people believed e-health to be an element of progress. Overall, the study participants supported sharing their medical data for research.
Implementing e-health solutions seems to be perceived as an inevitable consequence of technological progress. However, a lack of adequate technical skills remains one of the major obstacles to efficiently utilizing e-health's potential.
电子健康涉及使用信息和通信技术来支持健康及与健康相关的活动。在波兰，新冠疫情期间电子健康显著增长。疫情表明，电子健康环境可能是应对流行病学挑战的重要因素。波兰公民获得了一系列支持提供医疗服务的电子健康工具。
该研究的主要目的是评估波兰社会对电子健康解决方案的知识、使用情况及看法。五十名代表普通人群的参与者参加了深入访谈。访谈于2023年11月至2024年1月在参与者家中面对面进行或通过电话会议平台进行。起初，受访者通过便利抽样招募，后期采用滚雪球抽样法。一份半结构化指南涵盖了对电子健康解决方案的知识和使用、对新技术的态度以及对医疗保健中人工智能和机器人的看法。访谈者采访了50名参与者，其中26名是女性。访谈转录本使用MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2022（版本22.7.0）进行分析。采用基于主题分析的方法来评估访谈内容。
访谈的主题分析确定了三个主要主题：（1）电子健康知识，（2）障碍，（3）电子健康使用的促进因素。尽管研究参与者经常使用电子健康解决方案，但对“电子健康”一词的认知有限。主要障碍包括数字技能有限和对新技术的负面态度。一些参与者抱怨技术困难，例如网络接入不佳。根据访谈确定的主要促进因素包括节省时间和降低成本，以及能够在一个存储库中访问病历，如互联网患者账户的情况。一些人认为电子健康是进步的一个因素。总体而言，研究参与者支持为研究分享他们的医疗数据。
实施电子健康解决方案似乎被视为技术进步的必然结果。然而，缺乏足够的技术技能仍然是有效利用电子健康潜力的主要障碍之一。
