Abstract
BACKGROUND: Teleconsultation has become one of the important, and sometimes the only possible form of communication between healthcare professionals and their patients in the era of COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was therefore to understand the attitudes and perceptions of teleconsultation among various healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The study was based on a specially designed questionnaire that was sent to healthcare professionals by e-mail and by personal contact. The questionnaire was sent in total to 1250 Polish healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, midwifes paramedics, physiotherapists) and was finally completed by 780 of them, which allowed to achieve 62.4% response rate. FINDINGS: During the Covid-19 pandemic, teleconsultation and face-to-face contact were similarly frequently reported as preferred patient contact, 50.5% and 49.5%, respectively. More than half of healthcare professionals are ready to use teleconsultation in their work after a pandemic is over. The most positive attitude to teleconsultation was presented by doctors and nurses, the least among paramedics and physiotherapists. Doctors assessed the reliability and efficacy of teleconsultation significantly higher than all other healthcare professionals (6.49 and 6.79 on the Likert 1-10 scale, respectively). The undoubted advantages of teleconsultation included: reducing the possibility of getting infected with Covid-19, quick contact with a patient, the possibility of providing help to a larger number of patients at the same time. The most common weaknesses of teleconsultation were: the inability to perform a physical examination of the patient, unreliable transfer of information by patients, technical difficulties in communication. DISCUSSION: Most healthcare professionals appreciate the value of teleconsultation. However, they are aware of the limitations of teleconsultation, and their attitude varies depending on the tasks and specificity of individual medical professions. It seems that even after the pandemic is over, teleconsultations will find a permanent, rightful place in the healthcare system.