TY - JOUR
T1 - Attitudes of the public to receiving medical care during emergencies through remote physician– patient communications
AU - Hamlin, Matilda
AU - Steingrimsson, Steinn
AU - Cohen, Itzhak
AU - Bero, Victor
AU - Bar-Tl, Avishay
AU - Adini, Bruria
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research received no external funding. Steinn Steingrimssons´ research time was financed by grants from the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the country councils, the ALF-agreement (ALFGBG-588611).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/7/2
Y1 - 2020/7/2
N2 - Providing health services through remote communications for sub-acute health issues during emergencies may help reduce the burden of the health care system and increase availability of care. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes of the public towards receiving medical services and providing medical information through remote communication in times of emergencies. During the pandemic outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), pandemic outbreak, 507 participants answered a structured online survey, rating their mean willingness to receive medical care and provide medical information, on a four-point Likert scale. Furthermore, demographic characteristics, social media use, and trust in data protection was collected. The mean willingness to receive medical services was 3.1 ± 0.6 and the mean willingness to provide medical information was 3.0 ± 0.7, with a strong significant correlation between the two (r = 0.76). The multiple regression model identified higher trust in data protection, level of education, and social media use as statistically significant predictors for a higher willingness to receive medical information while the first two predicted willingness to provide information. The findings suggest an overall positive attitude to receive medical care through remote communications.
AB - Providing health services through remote communications for sub-acute health issues during emergencies may help reduce the burden of the health care system and increase availability of care. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes of the public towards receiving medical services and providing medical information through remote communication in times of emergencies. During the pandemic outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), pandemic outbreak, 507 participants answered a structured online survey, rating their mean willingness to receive medical care and provide medical information, on a four-point Likert scale. Furthermore, demographic characteristics, social media use, and trust in data protection was collected. The mean willingness to receive medical services was 3.1 ± 0.6 and the mean willingness to provide medical information was 3.0 ± 0.7, with a strong significant correlation between the two (r = 0.76). The multiple regression model identified higher trust in data protection, level of education, and social media use as statistically significant predictors for a higher willingness to receive medical information while the first two predicted willingness to provide information. The findings suggest an overall positive attitude to receive medical care through remote communications.
KW - Emergency management
KW - Patient willingness
KW - Remote communications
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088160784&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17145236
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17145236
M3 - Article
C2 - 32698481
AN - SCOPUS:85088160784
VL - 17
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
SN - 1661-7827
IS - 14
M1 - 5236
ER -
