Version 1
: Received: 19 January 2024 / Approved: 22 January 2024 / Online: 23 January 2024 (09:10:34 CET)
How to cite:
Zammit, D.; Tomaselli, G.; Garg, L.; Buttigieg, S.C.; Macassa, G. Hospital Doctors’ Attitudes to the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Digital Virtual Consultations. Preprints2024, 2024011630. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.1630.v1
Zammit, D.; Tomaselli, G.; Garg, L.; Buttigieg, S.C.; Macassa, G. Hospital Doctors’ Attitudes to the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Digital Virtual Consultations. Preprints 2024, 2024011630. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.1630.v1
Zammit, D.; Tomaselli, G.; Garg, L.; Buttigieg, S.C.; Macassa, G. Hospital Doctors’ Attitudes to the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Digital Virtual Consultations. Preprints2024, 2024011630. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.1630.v1
APA Style
Zammit, D., Tomaselli, G., Garg, L., Buttigieg, S.C., & Macassa, G. (2024). Hospital Doctors’ Attitudes to the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Digital Virtual Consultations. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.1630.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Zammit, D., Sandra C. Buttigieg and Gloria Macassa. 2024 "Hospital Doctors’ Attitudes to the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Digital Virtual Consultations" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.1630.v1
Abstract
Over the past few decades, digitalisation has pushed patient care towards a new era, inducing the evolution of health care delivery and enhancing the overall sustainability of health systems worldwide. Despite the ever-evolving technology leading to a change in health care provision, the uptake of these novel technologies by medical professionals is slow, largely because of concerns about the potential impact on patient care and patient safety, and medico-legal implications. Hence, this research aimed to understand doctors’ perceptions of the adoption of digital virtual consultations in the practice setting.In this survey, an online questionnaire, adapted from the construct by Venkatesh and Bala and based on the Technology Acceptance Model by Davis, was distributed to 886 hospital doctors. Altogether 133 responses were obtained.Results suggest that the respondents perceived digital virtual consultations as adjuncts to face-to-face consultations and as able to diminish time and place barriers. Doctors were willing in principle to utilise these alternatives to traditional methods if the appropriate infrastructure and technology were in place. Feasibility and cost-effectiveness studies are recommended to establish the technology-fit factor and the impact of the technology on the workforce, coupled with a stakeholder analysis to include all the actors involved in such a strategy.
Keywords
Video consultations, digitalisation, hospital doctors, patient care, health care, sustainability
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public Health and Health Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
