Barriers to telemedicine among physicians in epilepsy care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national-level cross-sectional survey in Japan.
Epilepsy Behav
; 126: 108487, 2022 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1586249
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the unwillingness of physicians involved in epilepsy care to continue telemedicine during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan.METHOD:
This was a national-level cross-sectional survey initiated by Japan Young Epilepsy Section (YES-Japan) which is a national chapter of The Young Epilepsy Section of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE-YES). We asked physicians who conducted telemedicine in patients with epilepsy (PWE) during the COVID-19 pandemic at four clinics and 21 hospitals specializing in epilepsy care in Japan from March 1 to April 30, 2021. The following data were collected (1) participant profile, (2) characteristics of PWE treated by telemedicine, and (3) contents and environmental factors of telemedicine. Statistically significant variables (pâ¯<â¯0.05) in the univariate analysis were analyzed in a multivariate binary logistic regression model to detect the independently associated factors with the unwillingness to continue telemedicine.RESULT:
Among the 115 respondents (response rate 64%), 89 were included in the final analysis. Of them, 60 (67.4%) were willing to continue telemedicine, and 29 (32.6%) were unwilling. In the univariate binary logistic regression analysis, age (Odds ratio [OR]â¯=â¯1.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-3.09, pâ¯=â¯0.02), psychiatrist (ORâ¯=â¯5.88, 95% CI 2.15-16.08, pâ¯=â¯0.001), hospital (ORâ¯=â¯0.10, 95% CI 0.01-0.94, pâ¯=â¯0.04), the number of COVID-19 risk factors in the participant (ORâ¯=â¯2.88, 95% CI 1.46-5.69, pâ¯=â¯0.002), the number of COVID-19 risk factors in the cohabitants (ORâ¯=â¯2.52, 95% CI 1.05-6.01, pâ¯=â¯0.04), COVID-19 epidemic area (ORâ¯=â¯4.37, 95% CI 1.18-16.20, pâ¯=â¯0.03), consultation time during telemedicine (ORâ¯=â¯2.51, 95% CI 1.32-4.76, pâ¯=â¯0.005), workload due to telemedicine (ORâ¯=â¯4.17, 95% CI 2.11-8.24, pâ¯<â¯0.001) were statistically significant. In the multivariate binary logistic regression analysis, workload due to telemedicine (ORâ¯=â¯4.93, 95% CI 1.96-12.35) was independently associated with the unwillingness to continue telemedicine.CONCLUSION:
This national-level cross-sectional survey found that workload due to telemedicine among physicians involved in epilepsy care was independently associated with the unwillingness to continue telemedicine.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Physicians
/
Telemedicine
/
Epilepsy
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Epilepsy Behav
Journal subject:
Behavioral Sciences
/
Neurology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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