Pros and cons of telemedicine in diagnosis and management: A cross sectional survey

Abstract

Introduction: Cost effectiveness, equity, and quality all are problems facing the health care services in both developed and developing countries. Modern technologies as telemedicine tried to help population especially in epidemics. Many malpractice problems facing doctors and other health care workers due to using telemedicine. This study aimed to clarify the pros and cons of telemedicine. Method: Survey was done and validated to health care worker sectors, patients and judicial workers sectors, to evaluate the telemedicine according to their practice. Results: about one thousand volunteers shared in this study, 616 (61.3%), 68 (6.8%) judicial workers, and 320 (31.9%) other jobs. Most of doctors 95% of them refuse to use telemedicine in the provisional diagnosis, 77.3% claim that it is very difficult to give accurate diagnosis through media, 75.6% of them convinced that telemedicine and increase the malpractice issues and medical responsibilities. In judicial workers 64.7% of them prove that there is increase in malpractice issues due to use of media. On the other side 55% of the other job sectors agree with the use of telemedicine especially in time of epidemics. Conclusion: Telemedicine has many pros and cons. The main cons were that the inability to give the actual diagnosis and occurrence of medical errors, while the main pros was that the use of telemedicine to follow up already diagnosed patient. Governments should legalize the using of telemedicine by enacting law that prohibit the use of it except between doctors to take medical decision or exchange opinion.