THE LEVEL OF PERCEPTION AND USE OF TELEMEDICINE AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND PATIENTS OF HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN THE KREMENETS DISTRICT OF TERNOPIL REGION

Authors

  • N. O. Slobodian I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine
  • N. O. Terenda I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5655-4326
  • L. V. Trushchenkova I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5396-3973
  • I. V. Drok I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11603/1681-2786.2024.2.14790

Keywords:

telemedicine, telemedicine services, telemedicine technologies

Abstract

Purpose: to study and analyze the level of perception and use of telemedicine among healthcare professionals and patients in the Kremenets district of Ternopil region.

Materials and Methods. A survey was conducted with 92 residents of Kremenets district and 64 employees of the Kremenets Primary Health Care Center and private clinics in Kremenets.

Results. Almost the same number of survey participants among patients used telemedicine services in the age groups under and over 40 years of age: 30.77 % in the under-40 group and 40.00 % in the over-40 group. However, men were less likely to use telemedicine services than women (12.82 % vs. 50.94 %, p<0.001).

The percentage of telemedicine use in medical practice among the surveyed doctors was quite high – 85.94 %. Only 14.06 % of the surveyed doctors did not use telemedicine technologies in their work. For doctors under 40 years old, the main reason for not using telemedicine in practice was lack of technical capabilities (100 %), while for the healthcare professionals over 40 years old the main reason for not using telemedicine was lack of knowledge about the principles of telemedicine (100 %).

Conclusions. The study identified barriers to the use of telemedicine technologies by both patients and healthcare workers in the Kremenets district of Ternopil Oblast. The most significant problem of modern telemedicine, according to patient respondents, was the lack of information about the availability and right to receive telemedicine services (50.00 %). The next problem is poor internet connection (43.48 %), and only (6.52 %) of respondents expressed distrust in telemedicine.

Among the surveyed doctors, the majority believe that it is necessary to implement programs aimed at training employees and improving technical support of workplaces (56.21 %). A significant number of opinions pointed to the importance of widespread use of telemedicine, in particular its availability in rural areas (36.53 %), while the rest (7.26 %) pointed to the lack of clear algorithms for using telemedicine.

Author Biographies

N. O. Slobodian, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine

PhD (Economics and Enterprises Management), Associate Professor Public Health and Health care Management Department, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University

N. O. Terenda, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine

DM (Medicine), Professor of the Department of Public Health and Health Care Management, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University

L. V. Trushchenkova, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine

PhD (Economics and Enterprises Management), Associate Professor of the Department of Public Health and Health Care Management,  I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University

I. V. Drok, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine

is a 2nd-year student specialty «Public Health» of the I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University

References

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Published

2024-07-19

How to Cite

Slobodian, N. O., Terenda, N. O., Trushchenkova, L. V., & Drok, I. V. (2024). THE LEVEL OF PERCEPTION AND USE OF TELEMEDICINE AMONG HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND PATIENTS OF HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN THE KREMENETS DISTRICT OF TERNOPIL REGION. Bulletin of Social Hygiene and Health Protection Organization of Ukraine, (2), 71–76. https://doi.org/10.11603/1681-2786.2024.2.14790

Issue

No. 2 (2024)

Section

Organization of medical care

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