Digital transformation and the Fourth
Industrial Revolutiontriggered substantial changes in
many industries, worldwide. Healthcare industry is not
an exclusion in this regard. Digitalization of healthcare
and specifically digital health is becoming more
important, year by year. Furthermore, COVID-19
pandemics dramatically increased importance of digital
health. Telemedicine and specifically teleconsultations
offer many benefits, such as, increased access to high
quality healthcare services for individuals (especially for
those living in rural areas), improved management of
chronic conditions, cost efficiency, time saving for
patients etc. However, despite all the benefits related
with telemedicine,its adoption and uptake isrelatively
slow, especially in developing countries. One of the
major barriers hindering telemedicine adoption is
skepticism and lack of confidence among doctors
providing these services.Subsequently, presented
research was focused on this aspect of telemedicine, in
Georgia.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate attitudes
and perceptions of doctors towards telemedicine in
Georgia. The main question of the conducted research
was - how acceptable telemedicine is for the doctors
providing this service?
A combination of mixed-research methods has been
applied. Initially qualitative research, focus group
discussions were conducted withdoctors and specialists
providing telemedicine consultations to patients. At the
second stage, quantitative research- survey of doctors
was performed.
Analysis of results demonstrate, that skepticism and
lack of confidence exists among doctors providing
telemedicine services in Georgia. Moreover, there is a
lack of qualification and specific skills for
teleconsultations. Consequently, it is highly
recommended to conduct trainings for doctors, to
increase their awareness about areas of successful
utilization of telemedicine, its benefits and specific
characteristics. Furthermore, increased qualification of
doctors will increase their confidence, which in turn will
be reflected on patients and accordingly increase trust
towards telemedicine
Keywords :
Telemedicine adoption, teleconsultation, doctors’ attitudes towards telemedicine, telemedicine skills.