The concept of telemedicine in pediatric rheumatology in Tunisia: Parents' perceptions

INTRODUCTION: With the COVID-19 pandemic, health care systems are facing challenges in delivering proper patient care. Children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis require specialized and comprehensive attention. In this context, telemedicine is an alternative that has the potential to improve access to healthcare in addition to cost savings. The objective of our study was to evaluate parents' willingness for telemedicine and factors helping to adopt this alternative in the era of COVID-19. METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional study via structured phone interviews of parents' JIA patients as well as those with no established diagnoses. We evaluated their point of view and willingness to adhere to TM. RESULTS: The study included 40 parents. The main reasons for favoring TM were avoiding hospitals during the pandemic (32.5%), time saving (27.5%) as well as avoiding school absenteeism (27.5%). The main reasons for preferring a live consultation were the fear of a possible discrepancy between physical and distant evaluation (47.5%) and the fear of the trivialization of the disease (38.5%). There was no association between preference for TM and a family history of COVID-19 (p = 0.704) as well as electronic devices afforded (p = 0.263). However, patients who lived away from hospital, not familiar with the concept of TM and with higher income adhered less to TM. CONCLUSION: Unlike the literature data, our study showed the low prevalence of parents willing to accept TM as a model of care. This imply an urgent need for parent and patient education to promote TM especially in pediatric rheumatology.