Primary Care Doctor Characteristics That Determine the Use of Teleconsultations in the Catalan Public Health System: Retrospective Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: eConsulta is a tele-consultation service involving doctors and patients, and is part of Catalonia's public health information technology system. The service has been in operation since the end of 2015 as an adjunct to face-to-face consultations. A key factor in understanding the barriers and facilitators to the acceptance of the tool is understanding the sociodemographic characteristics of general practitioners who determine its use.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the sociodemographic factors that affect the likelihood of doctors using eConsulta.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of administrative data was used to perform a multivariate logistic regression analysis on the use of eConsulta in relation to sociodemographic variables.

Results: The model shows that the doctors who use eConsulta are 45-54 years of age, score higher than the 80th percentile on the quality of care index, have a high degree of accessibility, are involved in teaching, and work on a health team in a high socioeconomic urban setting.

Conclusions: The results suggest that certain sociodemographic characteristics associated with general practitioners determine whether they use eConsulta. These results must be taken into account if its deployment is to be encouraged in the context of a public health system.

Keywords: general practitioners; primary care; remote consultation; tele-consultation; tele-medicine.

Figure 1

Flowchart of the study population. NGP: number of general practitioners; NT: number of primary health teams; PCT: primary health team; eCAP: primary care information system; GP: general practitioner.