Knowledge and perception of health workers towards tele-medicine application in a new teaching hospital in Lagos

Abstract

To determine the perception of health workers in the health-care towards tele-medicine application in a new tertiary teaching hospital, a modified structured questionnaire using a prospective postal survey was administered to a cross-section of health workers in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH)/Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM). Only 60.9% of respondents were familiar with this new emerging concept of tele-medicine / tele-health in the health care system. Although, 50% of health workers had expressed concern about the ethical and medico-legal consideration of tele medicine practice, this was irrespective of their socio-religious background. The principal factors weighing in favour of willingness to use tele-health services were knowledge of tele-health applications (28.1%); perception of tele-health benefits (14.1%), reduced barriers to tele-health care among others. Most of the respondents believed that tele-health would enhance direct access to health care services (23.4%), improve quality of care (14.1%) among others. It is desirable to offer tele-medicine to patients especially for emergency and chronic medical conditions.   Key words: Tele-medicine / tele-health, health workers, perception, knowledge, Lagos.