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. 2021:27:100783.
doi: 10.1016/j.imu.2021.100783. Epub 2021 Nov 6.

Willingness to use telemedicine during COVID-19 among health professionals in a low income country

Mohammedjud Hassen Ahmed  1 , Shekur Mohammed Awol  2 , Shuma Gosha Kanfe  1 , Samuel Hailegebreal  3 , Gebiso Roba Debele  4 , Geleta Nenko Dube  1 , Habtamu Alganeh Guadie  5 , Habtamu Setegn Ngusie  1 , Jorn Klein  6
Affiliations

Willingness to use telemedicine during COVID-19 among health professionals in a low income country

Mohammedjud Hassen Ahmed et al. Inform Med Unlocked. 2021.

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has prompted rapid restructuring of the health-care system in an effort to stop the spread of the pandemic. Thus, telemedicine is more preferable in order to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic when face to face meeting is forbidden, allowing provision of health service over a distance. This study aimed to assess willingness to use telemedicine and factors that will determine their extent of willingness during COIVID-19 among healthcare providers working in south west of Ethiopia.

Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study design was applied to assess willingness to use telemedicine among healthcare providers working at public health hospitals in south west of Ethiopia. Self-administered questionnaires were used. We have used Epi-info for data entry and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) for analysis. A structural equation modeling was performed to identify factors associated with willingness to use telemedicine at 95% confidence interval (CI).

Result: In this study, less than half of respondents had high willingness to use telemedicine. Ease of use (β = 0.79, 95% CI: [0.72, 0.86], p < 0.01), attitude (β = 0.91, 95% CI: [0.87, 0.95], p < 0.01) and patient-physician relationships (β = 0.67, 95% CI: [0.54, 0.70], p < 0.01) were variables associated with willingness to use telemedicine. Anxiety towards technology (β = 0.74, 95% CI: [0.69, 0.79], p < 0.01) and patient-physician relationships (β = 0.87, 95% CI: [0.81, 0.92], p < 0.01) were determinant factors of attitude to use telemedicine.

Conclusions: The overall willingness to use telemedicine during COVID-19 in this setting is 46.5%. Addressing the problem related with ease of use, attitude and patient-physician relationships will help to increase the overall willingness to use telemedicine during COVID-19. An attempt to improving patient-physician relationship, provision of technical training for ease of use and working on healthcare providers' attitude will help to improve the willingness to use telemedicine.

Keywords: CI, Confidence Intervals; COVID-19; ETB, Ethiopian Birr; HITs, Health Information Technologies; Healthcare providers; IT, Information Technology; TM, Telemedicine; Telemedicine; USA, United States of America; Willingness; α, Alpha.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Modified theoretical model.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Result of theoretical model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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