One of the key components influencing the success of telehealth services integration into routine clinical practice is the attitude and perception by health care professionals and patients of this technologies.
OBJECTIVE
To study the attitude of doctors and patients towards the possibility of using telehealth technologies in primary health care delivery.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted using a questionnaire method by the means of a specially developed questionnaire consisting of two blocks. The questions are aimed at clarification of the main aspects of health care delivery with the use of telehealth technologies in the «doctor-patient» format and implementation of remote monitoring technology for patients with chronic non-communicable diseases, as well as the general characteristics of respondents. Statistica for Windows version 10.0 and R-studio software package was used for statistical processing of the obtained data.
RESULTS
City Polyclinic №218 of the Moscow Healthcare Department was the study base. The research included 395 patients over the age of 18 and 44 general practitioners. According to 44.1% of patients and 65.9% of doctors, the quality of health care delivery in telehealth consultations was significantly lower than the quality of health care provided in face-to-face doctor’s appointment. The most common factors that reduced the quality of telehealth consultations, according to specialists, were the absence of patient’s physical examination possibility (81.8%, n=36), technical failures and communication problems (40.9%, n=18), various quality of patients’ equipment used in consultations (25.0%, n=11), and patient identification issues (22.7%, n=10). The most common factors, according to patients, were technical failures, communication problems (44.7%, n=167), inability to conduct a full examination by the doctor (42.5%, n=159), poor quality of equipment (18.7%, n=70), as well as low functional and technical capabilities (18.4%, n=69), that was similar to the factors indicated by doctors.
CONCLUSION
The study allowed to identify barriers to the use of telehealth technologies in primary health care delivery, both at the hands of health care professionals and patients, the work with which would accelerate the development of these technologies.
