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. 2020 Aug 5;22(8):e19745.
doi: 10.2196/19745.

Telemedicine in Germany During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multi-Professional National Survey

Arne Peine #  1 , Pia Paffenholz #  2 , Lukas Martin  1 , Sandra Dohmen  1 , Gernot Marx  1 , Sven H Loosen  3   4
Affiliations

Telemedicine in Germany During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multi-Professional National Survey

Arne Peine et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: In an effort to contain the effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, health care systems worldwide implemented telemedical solutions to overcome staffing, technical, and infrastructural limitations. In Germany, a multitude of telemedical systems are already being used, while new approaches are rapidly being developed in response to the crisis. However, the extent of the current implementation within different health care settings, the user's acceptance and perception, as well as the hindering technical and regulatory obstacles remain unclear.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to assess the current status quo of the availability and routine use of telemedical solutions, user acceptance, and the subjectively perceived burdens on telemedical approaches. Furthermore, we seek to assess the perception of public information quality among professional groups and their preferred communication channels.

Methods: A national online survey was conducted on 14 consecutive days in March and April 2020, and distributed to doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals in the German language.

Results: A total of 2827 medical professionals participated in the study. Doctors accounted for 65.6% (n=1855) of the professionals, 29.5% (n=833) were nursing staff, and 4.9% (n=139) were identified as others such as therapeutic staff. A majority of participants rated the significance of telemedicine within the crisis as high (1065/2730, 39%) or neutral (n=720, 26.4%); however, there were significant differences between doctors and nurses (P=.01) as well as between the stationary sector compared to the ambulatory sector (P<.001). Telemedicine was already in routine use for 19.6% (532/2711) of German health care providers and in partial use for 40.2% (n=1090). Participants working in private practices (239/594, 40.2%) or private clinics (23/59, 39.0%) experienced less regulatory or technical obstacles compared to university hospitals (586/1190, 49.2%). A majority of doctors rated the public information quality on COVID-19 as good (942/1855, 50.8%) or very good (213/1855, 11.5%); nurses rated the quality of public information significantly lower (P<.001). Participant's age negatively correlated with the perception of telemedicine's significance (ρ=-0.23; P<.001).

Conclusions: Telemedicine has a broad acceptance among German medical professionals. However, to establish telemedical structures within routine care, technical and regulatory burdens must be overcome.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; acceptance; availability; burden; coronavirus; medical professional; pandemic; survey; telehealth; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: GM is the president of the German Society of Telemedicine and an Honoria for 2 lectures from Philips. AP, GM, and LM are co-founders of Clinomic GmbH. AP is chief executive officer of Clinomic GmbH. All other authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Levels of telemedical interventions during the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19: coronavirus disease; ICU: intensive care unit.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Age distribution split by gender within the study participants.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Subgroup analysis: relative significance of telemedicine among professional groups (A) and different work settings (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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