An insight into the bilateral readiness towards telemedicine

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

2021

Background The use of information technologies could help to improve communications between patients and care providers, might improve overall patient management practice. However, the potential for implementing these patient management options in Ethiopia has not been well documented. This institution-based survey aimed to describe the attitude and willingness of care providers towards the use of information technologies for managing diabetes patients, and factors influencing their interest. Methods A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted on 423 study participants from February to March 2020 at two teaching hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia, where remote monitoring patients had not been implemented. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the required data. Other than descriptive statistics, the binary logistic regression analysis method was used to identify factors associated with attitude. Also, the negative binomial regression method was used to identify factors associated with willingness to use information technologies. Result A total of 406 participants (69.7%, n = 283 nurses and 30.3%, n = 123 physicians) were completed survey. Overall, 64% of respondents had a favorable attitude towards remote monitoring, and the majority of them were willing to use voice call (74.4%), text message (62.1%), video conference (61.3%), e-mail (60.6%), and social media (57.4%) as a source of communication to support patients. The result of regression analysis shows that having a computer (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI: [1.3, 3.8]), innovativeness (AOR = 2.8, 95% CI: [1.8, 4.3]), and practice of supporting patient by electronic technologies (AOR = 1.7, 95% CI: [1.1, 2.6]) were significantly associated with attitude to remote monitoring. Attitude towards remote monitoring (IRR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1–4.7), computer use (IRR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.162–3.023), frequently searching health-related information (IRR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.459–6.570), gender (IRR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0–5.1), awareness towards remote monitoring (IRR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1–2.7) were significantly associated with willingness to use information technologies. Conclusion Improving the intention and skill of using computers should be a major point of attention for teaching hospitals who wish to improve their care providers' attitudes to remote monitoring and willingness in using information technologies. Besides, the awareness of professionals is crucial for improving willingness.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing healthcare providers’ attitude and willingness to use information technology in diabetes management

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

2021

“…In this survey, a structured self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the awareness and readiness of health professionals towards TM. The design and development of the survey instrument were guided by the literature review and the questionnaire which were adapted from various survey tools that had previously pilottested [14,[25][26][27][28]. The self-administered questionnaire consists of four sections.…”

Section: Data Collection Instruments and Pre-processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Awareness and readiness to use telemonitoring to support diabetes care among care providers at teaching hospitals in Ethiopia: An institution-based cross-sectional study

2021

Preprint

Background. Telemonitoring(TM) has great potential in the management of chronically ill patients and could help to improve the quality of the patient's life while reducing healthcare costs and care providers' overload. It is important to assess the keenness level of care providers to use and maximize benefit of using technologies in chronic care. This survey aimed to assess the awareness and readiness of care providers to support diabetes patients through TM technology. Methods. An institution-based cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted by using a pretested self-administered questionnaire on 423 study participants at teaching hospitals in northwest Ethiopia. Data entry and analysis were done using Epi-data version 4.6 and STATA version 14 software, respectively. The mean, percentage, and standard deviation were calculated to describe the characteristics of participants. A binary logistic regression analysis method was used to identify factors associated with awareness. The ordinal logistic regression analysis method was used to identify factors associated with readiness, however, the partial proportional odds model was fitted due to violation of the proportional assumption. Result. A total of 406 participants (69.7%, n= 283 nurses and 30.3%, n=123 physicians) were completed survey. A high proportion of respondents owned a computer (66%) or a smartphone (80%). Overall, 38.7% of Participants have heard about TM, when it came to readiness, the majority of the study participants, 321(25.1%) and 121(65.5%) have average and low readiness towards TM, respectively. The result of regression analysis show that the participant’s technical skills, access to basic technologies, and attitude were significantly associated with both outcome variables.Conclusion. The findings of this survey revealed low awareness and readiness of participant’s towards TM. However, this study suggests the need of improving participant's attitudes, access to smartphones and computers, and technical skills to fill this gap.

“…Remote monitoring is a recent conception and requires gadgets such as smartphones and computers, in this study a majority of participants owned smartphones (80%) and personal computers (66%), which is higher than a previous study computer access were (36.7%) among health professionals in Ethiopia [27]. This nding is important since the lack of access to computers and smartphones can act as a barrier to the implantation of ICT [24]. Moreover, our study revealed that 51% of participants have a good attitude towards currently available ICT tools in healthcare.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Data were collected by using a structured self-administered questionnaire designed for the study. The design and development of the survey instrument were guided by the literature review and the questionnaire was adapted from various survey tools that had previously pilot-tested [21][22][23][24]. It also touches a number of factors previously identi ed from the literature that impact the attitude and willingness of health professionals regarding telehealth [20,[25][26][27].…”

Section: Study Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing healthcare providers’ attitude and willingness to use information technology in diabetes management.

2020

Preprint

Background: The use of information technologies could help to improve communications between patients and care providers, might improve overall patient management practice. However, the potential for implementing these patient management options in Ethiopia has not been well documented. This institution-based survey aimed to describe the attitude and willingness of care providers towards the use of information technologies for managing diabetes patients, and factors influencing their interest.Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted on 423 study participants from February to March 2020 at two teaching hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia, where remote monitoring patients had not been implemented. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the required data. Other than descriptive statistics, the binary logistic regression analysis method was used to identify factors associated with attitude. Also, the negative binomial regression method was used to identify factors associated with willingness to use information technologies.Result: A total of 406 participants (69.7%, n= 283 nurses and 30.3%, n=123 physicians) were completed survey. Overall, 64% of respondents had a favorable attitude towards remote monitoring, and the majority of them were willing to use voice call (74.4%), text message (62.1%), video conference (61.3%), e-mail (60.6%), and social media (57.4%) as a source of communication to support patients. The result of regression analysis shows that having a computer (AOR=2.3, 95% CI: [1.3, 3.8]), innovativeness (AOR=2.8, 95% CI: [1.8, 4.3]), and practice of supporting patient by electronic technologies (AOR=1.7, 95% CI: [1.1, 2.6]) were significantly associated with attitude to remote monitoring. Attitude towards remote monitoring (IRR=2.3, 95% CI: 1.1- 4.7), computer use (IRR=1.3, 95% CI: 1.162- 3.023), frequently searching health-related information (IRR=1.7, 95% CI: 1.459-6.570), gender (IRR=1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-5.1), awareness towards remote monitoring (IRR=1.4, 95% CI: 1.1-2.7) were significantly associated with willingness to use information technologies.Conclusion: Improving the intention and skill of using computers should be a major point of attention for teaching hospitals who wish to improve their care providers' attitudes to remote monitoring and willingness in using information technologies. Besides, the awareness of professionals is crucial for improving willingness.