Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: May 11, 2020
Date Accepted: Sep 20, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Electronic Health (eHealth) Literacy of German Physicians – Frequently used, little knowledge Analysis of user behavior and attitude towards eHealth applications in a cohort of German physicians in the pre-COVID-19 era
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digitalization is a disruptive technology that changes the way we deliver diagnostic procedures and treatments in medicine. Different stakeholders have varying interests in and expectations of the digitalization of modern medicine. Many recent digital advances in the medical field, such as the implementation of electronic health records, telemedical services and mobile health apps, are increasingly used by medical professionals as well as patients. During the current pandemic outbreak of a novel coronavirus-caused respiratory disease (COVID-19), many modern information and communication technologies (ICT) have been used to overcome the physical barriers and limitations caused by government-issued curfews and workforce shortages. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in the usage of modern ICT in medicine. At the same time, the eHealth literacy of physicians working with these technologies has probably not improved since our study.
Objective:
This article describes a representative cohort of German physicians before the COVID-19 pandemic and their eHealth literacy and attitude towards modern ICT.
Methods:
A structured, self-developed questionnaire about user behavior and attitudes towards eHealth applications was administered to a representative cohort of 93 German physicians.
Results:
Ninety-seven percent of German physicians use a mobile phone. Medical apps are used by 42%. Half of the surveyed physicians use their private mobile phone for official purposes on a daily basis. Telemedicine is part of the daily routine for more than one-third of all participants. More than 80 % of the trial participants state that their knowledge regarding the legal aspects and data safety of medical apps and cloud computing is insufficient.
Conclusions:
Modern ICT is frequently used and mostly welcomed by German physicians. However, there is a tremendous lack of eHealth literacy and knowledge about the safe and secure implementation of these technologies in routine clinical practice.
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