Fink David J, Holz Frank G, Finger Robert P, Terheyden Jan Henrik
Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Mannheim & Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
Department Of Ophthalmology Venusberg-Campus 1, University Hospital Bonn, 53127, Bonn, Germany.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Sep 17;25(1):1202. doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-13491-1.
Despite the increasing impact of telemedicine services on global healthcare provision, little data on acceptance and preference for telemedicine services at the population level are available to date. This is especially important for telemedicine in ophthalmology, where commercial telemedical applications are regularly offered outside of the state-funded health care system. Our study investigates the acceptability of tele-ophthalmology to the German population and associated sociodemographic factors.
We conducted a cross-sectional survey via an online panel to assess attitudes towards telemedicine. In this survey, 1,008 individuals, demographically representative of the adult German population, were asked about their attitudes toward the acceptance of remote consultations and remote screening/monitoring in ophthalmology, as well as the motivators for telemedicine adoption. Associations with sociodemographic factors, including age, sex, household income and level of education, were investigated based on logistic regression models.
The mean age of the sample was 50 ± 16 years (range: 18–86 years). The acceptance of remote screening / monitoring (49.8%) was slightly higher than of remote consultations (45.7%). Younger age, higher income and reported visual difficulties were independent determinants favoring the acceptance of tele-ophthalmology. More than two in three participants (70.5%) reported easier or more flexible scheduling as motivators for the use of telemedicine, while fewer participants were motivated by cost savings (32.0%) or feedback reports (15.7%).
Our survey suggests that one in two people in Germany has positive attitudes towards telemedicine in ophthalmology. Though next steps including a thorough technology acceptance assessment need to be performed, telemedicine services at the population level may need to specifically target older individuals, women and low-income populations to enable healthcare equity within telemedicine provision.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-025-13491-1.
尽管远程医疗服务对全球医疗保健服务的影响日益增加，但迄今为止，在人群层面上关于远程医疗服务的接受度和偏好的数据仍然很少。这对于眼科远程医疗尤为重要，因为商业远程医疗应用经常在国家资助的医疗保健系统之外提供。我们的研究调查了德国人群对眼科远程医疗的接受度以及相关的社会人口学因素。
我们通过在线小组进行了一项横断面调查，以评估对远程医疗的态度。在这项调查中，询问了1008名在人口统计学上代表德国成年人口的个体对眼科远程医疗中接受远程会诊和远程筛查/监测的态度，以及采用远程医疗的动机。基于逻辑回归模型研究了与年龄、性别、家庭收入和教育水平等社会人口学因素的关联。
样本的平均年龄为50±16岁（范围：18 - 86岁）。远程筛查/监测的接受率（49.8%）略高于远程会诊（45.7%）。年龄较小、收入较高和报告有视力困难是有利于接受眼科远程医疗的独立决定因素。超过三分之二的参与者（70.5%）报告说更便捷或更灵活的预约安排是使用远程医疗的动机，而较少的参与者是出于节省费用（32.0%）或反馈报告（15.7%）的动机。
我们的调查表明，德国有二分之一的人对眼科远程医疗持积极态度。尽管接下来需要进行包括全面技术接受度评估在内的后续步骤，但人群层面的远程医疗服务可能需要特别针对老年人、女性和低收入人群，以在远程医疗服务中实现医疗公平。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s12913 - 025 - 13491 - 1获取的补充材料。
