Physicians’ satisfaction with telehealth services among family physicians in Cluster 1 hospitals

BACKGROUND: Physicians are increasingly applying telehealth services in the hospital. The use of telehealth services helps to ensure that doctors treat patients and write prescriptions remotely without the need to meet physically with the patient. METHODS: The study used a descriptive survey design, in which collection and sampling of data were standardized to represent the population of all physicians. The target population was all doctors in all private healthcare systems, King Saud Medical City (KSMC), and four hospitals in the southwest area of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected via a simple random sampling system and engaged questionnaires. Microsoft Office Excel was used for data entry and preparation of graphs and charts. RESULTS: We collected data from 151 physicians in Cluster 1 hospitals. Most were males (74.8%) with a mean age of 31.14 years. Of these, 57.6% thought that telemedicine saved physicians’ traveling time, 27.8% were satisfied with telemedicine services, 28.5% were not satisfied, and 43.7% were neutral; 61.6% thought that telemedicine was important for them, and 53.6% liked using telemedicine because of the similarity of participants’ values and society values underlying its uses; 59.6% reported that telemedicine improved their job effectiveness and performance, while 58.9% reported that telemedicine enabled them to accomplish tasks more quickly and made them more productive. CONCLUSION: Physicians expressed a high level of satisfaction and a positive attitude toward telemedicine. Future researches are essential to see how attitudes about telemedicine have altered since the pandemic.