Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on knowledge, perceptions, and effects of telemedicine among the general population of Pakistan: A national survey

Frontiers in Public Health

Public Health

Mohsin Khalid Qureshi¹  Irfan Ullah²  Muhammad Anas Tahseen Asar³  Muhammad Junaid Tahir³  Qasid Ahmad³  Waleed Tariq³  Muhammad Sohaib Asghar⁴  Ahmad Raza⁵  Kaleem Ullah⁶  Ali Ahmed⁷  Muhammad Zarak Sarwar⁸  Muhammad Atif Ameer⁹  Haziq Siddiqi^1,10 

[1] Department of Medicine, Hazrat Bari Imam Sarkar Medical and Dental College, Islamabad, Pakistan;Department of Medicine, Kabir Medical College, Gandhara University, Peshawar, Pakistan;Department of Medicine, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan;Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic-Rochester, Rochester, MN, United States;Department of Medicine, Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan;Department of Medicine, Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jeelani Institute of Medical Sciences, Gambat, Pakistan;Department of Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Monash University, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia;Department of Medicine, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, Pakistan;Department of Medicine, Suburban Community Hospital, East Norriton, PA, United States;Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States;

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    awareness;    pandemic;    telehealth;    e-health;    public health;    COVID-19;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.1036800

 received in 2022-09-05, accepted in 2022-12-05,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTelemedicine is the provision of healthcare services through information and communication technology with the potential to mobilize all facets of the health sector to prevent the spread of COVID-19, provide quality healthcare, protect patients, doctors, and the public from exposure to disease, and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. This study aims to identify knowledge, perceptions, willingness to use, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telemedicine awareness.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from 27 May 2020 to 17 June 2020 using the convenient sampling technique in the general population of Pakistan. Data were collected by designing an online questionnaire consisting of demographic information, knowledge, attitude perceptions, barriers, utilization, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telemedicine.ResultsOf the 602 participants included in the study, 70.1% had heard about telemedicine, 54.3% had a good understanding of the definition of “telemedicine,” 81.4% had not used telemedicine in the past, 29.9% did not know that telemedicine was available before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 70.4% responded that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed their attitudes toward telemedicine. Gender (p = 0.017) and family income (p = 0.027) had a significant association with the perception of the benefits of telemedicine.ConclusionThe knowledge and usage of telemedicine are lacking due to inadequate awareness and technology. The need of the hour is to maximize the application of telemedicine to overcome the deficiencies of the healthcare system. Hence, it is essential to increase awareness through various means and develop an appropriate infrastructure to attain maximum benefits from telehealth services.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Tariq, Asar, Tahir, Ullah, Ahmad, Raza, Qureshi, Ahmed, Sarwar, Ameer, Ullah, Siddiqi and Asghar.