Awareness and acceptance of telemedicine by medical doctors working in public hospitals in the city of Douala

Abstract

Clinicians have been studying ways to apply computer technology to enhance healthcare for many years. However, the acceptance of telemedicine has tended to be slower in Africa. The objective of this study was to evaluate medical doctors' awareness of telemedicine and determine factors affecting its acceptance in Douala. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2023 in public health hospitals in Douala, Cameroon. Among the 283 medical doctors who received a questionnaire, 252 were included in the study. To identify factors influencing telemedicine utilization, bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were employed. The statistical significance level was set at P < 0.05. This study result showed female predominance 157 (62.3%) with mean age of 35.8 ± 6.8 years. Most of these doctors, 25 (64.1%), who admitted making use of these applications used WASPITO; 17 (43.6%) use these applications on occasion, while 32 (82.1%) use these applications for teleconsultation. The 39 (15.5%) medical doctors who use these applications have a very good perception of their effectiveness. No association was found between age, gender, specialty, year of service, willingness to use telemedicine and the usage of telemedicine applications. The use of telemedicine remains low in Cameroon. It would be important to improve understanding of telemedicine to ensure its use. Key words: Telemedicine, awareness, acceptance, medical doctor, Douala, mobile health.