Abstract
Telemedicine is a rapidly expanding field of medicine and an alternative method for delivering quality medical care to patients’ fingertips. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the use of telemedicine to connect patients and healthcare providers, which has been made possible by mobile health (mHealth) applications. The goal of this study was to compare the satisfaction of patients with telemedicine among mHealth users and non-users. This was a survey-based study that included outpatients from Abu Dhabi. The association between patient satisfaction with telemedicine and use of mHealth technologies was described using regression models. This study included a total of 515 completed responses. The use of mHealth application was significantly associated with ease of booking telemedicine appointments (OR 2.61, 95% CI 1.63–4.18; P < .001), perception of similarity of quality of care between telemedicine consultations and in-person visits (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.26–2.61; P = .001), and preference for using telemedicine applications over in-person visits during the COVID-19 pandemic (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.12–2.72; P = .015). Our study results support that the use of mHealth applications is associated with increased patient satisfaction with telemedicine appointments.
Highlights
Over the last decade, the digital revolution led by smartphones has made headway in all aspects of life, including healthcare [1]
Telemedicine was delivered via networks of dedicated sites at clinics and hospitals where patients would attend their virtual appointments with a clinician at a site closest to their home with clinicians joining via their closest clinic or hospital [6,7]
Even though telemedicine acceptance and efficacy are widely documented in literature, little to no research has been done to prove its efficacy in a mobile health application setting
Summary
The digital revolution led by smartphones has made headway in all aspects of life, including healthcare [1] This revolution began with the exponential rise of the smartphone, along with its counterparts in tablet technology and wearables such as smart watches. These have evolved to cover applications including wearable sleep technology [2], applications that record patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG) [3] and detect falls in geriatric patients [4]. Telemedicine was delivered via networks of dedicated sites at clinics and hospitals where patients would attend their virtual appointments with a clinician at a site closest to their home with clinicians joining via their closest clinic or hospital [6,7]
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