Abstract
BACKGROUND: Telemedicine is a key factor in increasing patient accessibility, satisfaction with treatment, and quality of care, effectively utilizing physicians' time, and improving communication among medical experts. Despite global interest in telemedicine, there is limited research exploring users' perspectives on telemedicine within the context of Egyptian university hospitals. This study aims to examine physicians' and employees' levels of knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward telemedicine. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Tanta University's medical campus from November 2023 to March 2024. One-thousand employees and physicians were surveyed. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. It consists of four sections: sociodemographic data, knowledge about telemedicine, attitude, and practice of telemedicine. RESULTS: Half of physicians used telemedicine, and 38.2% of the employees have used e-health services. Applications of telemedicine included patients' investigations communicated through the Internet (76.4%), patients' management with drugs (71.4%), direct medical consultation between patient and physician (65.4%), second opinion consulting (57.6%), sharing experiences and new trends in medicine and surgery with other specialists in other countries (54%), and follow-up of patients through the electronic technologies (53%). About three-quarters of physicians and employees had a positive attitude toward telemedicine. The advantages reported include being easy to use (63%), reducing travel costs for patients (68.6%), and its importance during pandemics, e.g., COVID-19 (59.8%). However, our results indicated potential barriers when using telemedicine, including the need for training; elderly patients find difficulty dealing with technology, poor infrastructure, technical issues, difficulty for patients to express their feelings and communicate with physicians, and a lack of body language. CONCLUSION: A considerable percentage of participants were already using telemedicine services, and they were satisfied with the telemedicine system. Though most participants had favorable attitudes toward telemedicine, potential barriers were reported, such as training for physicians and patients, difficulty dealing with technology, poor infrastructure, and technical issues. These findings underscore the need to develop and implement a regulatory framework that supports telemedicine adoption, including data protection, patient confidentiality, and reimbursement standards.