JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

While the use of telemedicine (TLM) increased worldwide during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about the use and acceptance of TLM post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective:

To evaluate patients’ and physicians’ self-reported use, preferences and acceptability of different types of TLM after the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic

Methods:

We conducted a cross-sectional survey among patients and physicians in Geneva, Switzerland between September 2021 and January 2022. Patients in waiting rooms of both private and public medical centres and emergency services were invited to answer an online questionnaire. Physicians working in private and public settings were invited by email to answer a similar questionnaire. The questionnaires assessed participants’ socio-demographics and digital literacy; self-reported use of TLM; as well as preferences and acceptability of TLM for different clinical situations

Results:

567 patients (55% women) and 448 physicians (51% women, 50% in private practice) responded to the questionnaire. Patients and physicians generally preferred phone over other TLM formats (46.5% and 55.2%) and considered it to be acceptable for most medical situations. Email was acceptable for communicating exam results (73.6 and 68.8%) and medical certificates (67.7 and 66.2%) and video was considered acceptable for psychological support by 53.2% of patients and 64.3% of physicians. Older age was associated with lower acceptability of video for both patients and physicians (OR 0.03 95%CI 0.00-0.33) and (OR 0.23 95%CI 0.08-0.66) while prior use of video was positively associated with video acceptability (OR 3.16 95%CI 1.84-5.43) and (OR 3.34 CI95%2.91-5.54). Psychiatrists and hospital physicians were more likely to consider video to be acceptable (OR 10.79 (95%CI 3.96-29.3) and 3.97 (95%CI 2.23-7.6).

Conclusions:

Despite the development of video, acceptability of video remains lower than phone for most health issues or patient requests. There is need to better define for which patients and in which medical situations video can become safe and efficient. Clinical Trial: Because we collected no personal health information, the study was granted a waiver from ethical approval by the Ethical Committee of the Canton of Geneva (article 2 of the Swiss Federal Act on Research involving Human Beings).