Clinicians' Knowledge and Perception of Telemedicine Technology.

TLDR

Telemedicine applies information and communication technology to healthcare settings. The study compared clinicians’ knowledge and perceptions of telemedicine across professional groups. A 2013 survey of 532 clinicians in northern Iran used a validated five‑point Likert questionnaire to assess telemedicine knowledge and perceptions. Most clinicians (96.1 %) had limited telemedicine knowledge, which led to moderate advantage perceptions and low disadvantage perceptions—especially among dentists—indicating that enhanced education could improve their realistic views.

Abstract

Telemedicine is an application of information and communication technology in the healthcare environment. This study aimed to compare knowledge and perceptions of telemedicine technology among different groups of clinicians.This survey study was conducted in 2013. The potential participants included 532 clinicians who worked in two hospitals and three clinics in a northern province of Iran. Data were collected using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. The content validity of the questionnaire was checked, and the reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.73).The results showed that most of the clinicians (96.1 percent) had little knowledge about telemedicine. They perceived the advantages of telemedicine at a moderate level and its disadvantages at a low level. The knowledge of dentists about this technology was less than that of other groups, and as a result they were less positive about the advantages of telemedicine compared to nurses, general physicians, and specialists.The limited knowledge of clinicians about telemedicine seems to have influenced their perceptions of the technology. Therefore, providing healthcare professionals with more information about new technologies in healthcare, such as telemedicine, can help to gain a more realistic picture of their perceptions.