Opinions and Beliefs About Telemedicine for Emergency Treatment During Ambulance Transportation and for Chronic Care at Home

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine is a valid alternative to face-to-face patient care in many areas. However, the opinion of all stakeholders is decisive for successful adoption of this technique, especially as telemedicine expands into novel domains such as emergency teleconsultations during ambulance transportation and chronic care at home.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluate the viewpoints of the broad public, patients, and professional caregivers in these situations.

METHODS: A 10-question survey was developed and obtained via face-to-face interviews of visitors at the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZB). The online questionnaire was also distributed among professional caregivers via the intranet of the UZB and among the broad public using social media.

RESULTS: In total, 607 individuals responded to the questionnaire, expressing a positive opinion regarding telemedicine for in-ambulance emergency treatment and for chronic care at home. Privacy issues were not perceived as relevant, and most respondents were ready to participate in future teleconsultations. Lack of telecommunication knowledge (213/566, 37.6%) was the only independent factor associated with rejection of telemedicine at home and respondents via social media (250/607, 41.2%) were less concerned about privacy issues than respondents via face-to-face interviews (visitors, 234/607, 38.6%). The visitors were more positive towards in-ambulance telemedicine and more likely to agree with future participation in teleconsultations than respondents via social media.

CONCLUSIONS: The broad public, professional caregivers, and patients reported a positive attitude towards telemedicine for emergency treatment during ambulance transportation and for chronic care at home. These results support further improvement of telemedicine solutions in these domains.