Developing and Validating a Tool to Assess Telemedicine Acceptance Among Physicians During Pandemic Using a Technology Acceptance Model.

Background: The World health organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Telemedicine was one of the effective tools that were implemented during this pandemic. Most Lebanese physicians have been using telemedicine to perform virtual medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is important to assess the physicians' acceptability of telemedicine and willingness to use it in routine health care settings. Objective: We developed and validated a tool based on technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore the acceptance of telemedicine use during the pandemic among Lebanese physicians. Theoretical Background: Telemedicine Acceptance Model during Pandemic (TeAM) was developed based on TAM. The model was developed considering the associations between constructs affecting the physicians' attitudes about telemedicine use. TeAM is a tool assessing telemedicine acceptance based on the TAM. It has additional constructs tackling the perceived risks of telemedicine use, the perceived need for policies, the perceived need for training, and the perceived usefulness of telemedicine during a pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted online through an email-based questionnaire sent to physicians enrolled in the Lebanese Order of Physicians. Results: Three hundred ninety physicians (n = 390) completed the survey. The tool was structured to test 10 hypotheses, out of which 9 were supported. The Cronbach's alpha score of each construct ranged between 0.745 and 0.905, all greater than 0.7 indicating an acceptable to excellent internal consistency. Conclusion: This study was able to validate TeAM as a reliable tool that can assess the acceptance of telemedicine among physicians. Accordingly, several determinants influencing this acceptance were identified. Practice implications include hospitals, primary health care centers, and national health care systems willing to adopt telemedicine can use TeAM to assess the physicians' willingness to accept the implementation of telemedicine in their practice.

Utilization of Telemedicine by the Lebanese Physicians During Time of Pandemic.

Introduction: The use of technology in the medical field has been rising rapidly and offering, in many cases, an alternative to traditional ways of practicing medicine, especially when remote medical services are required. This background has laid the foundation for telemedicine to play a role in controlling the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Telemedicine has the potential to allow the facilitation of providing the necessary medical care to patients without exposing them to contact with other patients or the general population. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the utilization of telemedicine by the Lebanese physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional online study was conducted using LimeSurvey® through an e-mail-based questionnaire sent to physicians currently enrolled in both Beirut and Tripoli Lebanese Order of Physicians. Results: Four hundred one physicians completed the survey resulting in a response rate of 5.85%. Most of the respondents (N = 401, 75.8%) reported using telemedicine to provide health care services to patients without in-person visits during the pandemic. Among those using telemedicine (N = 304), around 40% reported that they started using it during COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion: Literature states that the average time of an in-person clinic consultation is more than 15 min. This implies that telemedicine can play a role in saving physicians' time; this conclusion is supported by other studies that consider telemedicine a time-saving method of providing health care services. Conclusions: Our study indicated that telemedicine is used by the majority of Lebanese physicians and that this use has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results showed that telemedicine does have a potential that can allow it to be integrated in the health care system and implemented on a national organized level.