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Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey

INTRODUCTION: In the COVID-19 pandemic, many consultations had to be cancelled, postponed, or converted to a virtual format. The use of telemedicine in the management of Women's Health Care could support doctors (tele-gynecology). This study analyses the use and perception of telemedicine appli...

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Autores principales: Hertling, Stefan, Hertling, Doreen, Loos, Franziska, Martin, David, Graul, Isabel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8580852/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34786351
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2021.100478
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author Hertling, Stefan
Hertling, Doreen
Loos, Franziska
Martin, David
Graul, Isabel
author_facet Hertling, Stefan
Hertling, Doreen
Loos, Franziska
Martin, David
Graul, Isabel
author_sort Hertling, Stefan
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: In the COVID-19 pandemic, many consultations had to be cancelled, postponed, or converted to a virtual format. The use of telemedicine in the management of Women's Health Care could support doctors (tele-gynecology). This study analyses the use and perception of telemedicine applications among gynecologists in Germany. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study was based on a survey of gynecologists in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and regression analyses were performed to show correlations. RESULTS: The gynecologists expect telemedicine to be used in gynecology and obstetrics. 76.4% (365/478) of the respondents rated their knowledge of telemedicine as insufficient. The majority of respondents (437/478, 91.6%) said they did not currently use telemedicine, although 67.3% (321/478) would like to do so. Obstacles to the introduction of telemedicine include the purchase of technical equipment (325/478, 68.1%), administration (305/478, 64.0%) and poor reimbursement (233/478, 48.9%). Gynecologists surveyed would prefer telemedicine to communicate directly with other doctors (388/478, 81.2%) rather than to communicate with patients (228/478, 47.8%). In the treatment phases, 73.2% (349/478) of the respondents would use telemedicine during follow-up. Half of the respondents would choose tele counseling as a specific approach to improving care (246/478, 51.5%). CONCLUSION: Telemedicine in gynecology finds little use but high acceptance. The absence of a structured framework is an obstacle to effective implementation. Training courses should be introduced to improve the limited knowledge in the use of telemedicine. More research in tele-gynecology is needed. These include large-scale randomized controlled trials, economic analyses and the exploration of user preferences.
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spelling pubmed-85808522021-11-12 Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey Hertling, Stefan Hertling, Doreen Loos, Franziska Martin, David Graul, Isabel Internet Interv Full length Article INTRODUCTION: In the COVID-19 pandemic, many consultations had to be cancelled, postponed, or converted to a virtual format. The use of telemedicine in the management of Women's Health Care could support doctors (tele-gynecology). This study analyses the use and perception of telemedicine applications among gynecologists in Germany. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study was based on a survey of gynecologists in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and regression analyses were performed to show correlations. RESULTS: The gynecologists expect telemedicine to be used in gynecology and obstetrics. 76.4% (365/478) of the respondents rated their knowledge of telemedicine as insufficient. The majority of respondents (437/478, 91.6%) said they did not currently use telemedicine, although 67.3% (321/478) would like to do so. Obstacles to the introduction of telemedicine include the purchase of technical equipment (325/478, 68.1%), administration (305/478, 64.0%) and poor reimbursement (233/478, 48.9%). Gynecologists surveyed would prefer telemedicine to communicate directly with other doctors (388/478, 81.2%) rather than to communicate with patients (228/478, 47.8%). In the treatment phases, 73.2% (349/478) of the respondents would use telemedicine during follow-up. Half of the respondents would choose tele counseling as a specific approach to improving care (246/478, 51.5%). CONCLUSION: Telemedicine in gynecology finds little use but high acceptance. The absence of a structured framework is an obstacle to effective implementation. Training courses should be introduced to improve the limited knowledge in the use of telemedicine. More research in tele-gynecology is needed. These include large-scale randomized controlled trials, economic analyses and the exploration of user preferences. Elsevier 2021-11-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8580852/ /pubmed/34786351 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2021.100478 Text en © 2021 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Full length Article
Hertling, Stefan
Hertling, Doreen
Loos, Franziska
Martin, David
Graul, Isabel
Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey
title Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey
title_full Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey
title_fullStr Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey
title_full_unstemmed Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey
title_short Digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of COVID-19: Results of a national survey
title_sort digitization in gynecology and obstetrics in times of covid-19: results of a national survey
topic Full length Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8580852/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34786351
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2021.100478
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