Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic
Background: Hospital-related coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is of utmost concern among patients and health care workers. Expanding the use of telemedicine may be required in daily outpatient practice; however, the acceptance of telemedicine use is still low, especially among older pat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Mary Ann Liebert
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | Telemedicine Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/TMR.2021.0052 |
| _version_ | 1797346050713845760 |
|---|---|
| author | Tsuneari Takahashi Ryusuke Ae Koki Kosami Kensuke Minami Meiwa Shibata Tatsuya Kubo Katsushi Takeshita |
| author_facet | Tsuneari Takahashi Ryusuke Ae Koki Kosami Kensuke Minami Meiwa Shibata Tatsuya Kubo Katsushi Takeshita |
| author_sort | Tsuneari Takahashi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Hospital-related coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is of utmost concern among patients and health care workers. Expanding the use of telemedicine may be required in daily outpatient practice; however, the acceptance of telemedicine use is still low, especially among older patients. In an orthopedic practice, no studies have investigated potential factors that can contribute to changes in the acceptance of using telemedicine. Focusing on older outpatients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA), we hypothesized that a drastic surge in the number of patients with COVID-19 could trigger changes in attitudes regarding the acceptance of telemedicine use.
Methods: A baseline survey was conducted after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan to obtain information on the willingness to use telemedicine among patients aged ?70 years who regularly consulted an orthopedic surgeon for KOA. A follow-up survey was subsequently conducted during the third wave of the pandemic period to assess changes in the acceptance of telemedicine use in response to the rapidly increasing number of patients with COVID-19. We compared the difference in acceptance of telemedicine use and knee pain status between the baseline and follow-up surveys.
Results: In the baseline survey, 11 of 43 patients (25.6%) responded that they would be willing to use telemedicine. In the follow-up survey, patients' acceptance of telemedicine did not change, with the exact same number and percentage of patients who were willing to use telemedicine as in the baseline survey, despite that ?20% of patients reported improvement in their knee pain status.
Discussion: Our findings indicate that older outpatients with KOA did not change their willingness to accept use of telemedicine, even with a drastically increased risk of hospital-related transmission of a potentially fatal infectious disease when visiting a hospital. The acceptance of telemedicine use among older patients might not be less sensitive to external environmental factors but instead might be more sensitive to patients' personal factors, such as anxiety for information technology and resistance to changes in their lifestyle. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:27:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cf0c1b56991b41f2b0348f8fa6f1de3b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2692-4366 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:27:17Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | Mary Ann Liebert |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Telemedicine Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-cf0c1b56991b41f2b0348f8fa6f1de3b2024-01-26T05:21:28ZengMary Ann LiebertTelemedicine Reports2692-43662022-02-0131495410.1089/TMR.2021.0052Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 PandemicTsuneari TakahashiRyusuke AeKoki KosamiKensuke MinamiMeiwa ShibataTatsuya KuboKatsushi TakeshitaBackground: Hospital-related coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is of utmost concern among patients and health care workers. Expanding the use of telemedicine may be required in daily outpatient practice; however, the acceptance of telemedicine use is still low, especially among older patients. In an orthopedic practice, no studies have investigated potential factors that can contribute to changes in the acceptance of using telemedicine. Focusing on older outpatients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA), we hypothesized that a drastic surge in the number of patients with COVID-19 could trigger changes in attitudes regarding the acceptance of telemedicine use. Methods: A baseline survey was conducted after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan to obtain information on the willingness to use telemedicine among patients aged ?70 years who regularly consulted an orthopedic surgeon for KOA. A follow-up survey was subsequently conducted during the third wave of the pandemic period to assess changes in the acceptance of telemedicine use in response to the rapidly increasing number of patients with COVID-19. We compared the difference in acceptance of telemedicine use and knee pain status between the baseline and follow-up surveys. Results: In the baseline survey, 11 of 43 patients (25.6%) responded that they would be willing to use telemedicine. In the follow-up survey, patients' acceptance of telemedicine did not change, with the exact same number and percentage of patients who were willing to use telemedicine as in the baseline survey, despite that ?20% of patients reported improvement in their knee pain status. Discussion: Our findings indicate that older outpatients with KOA did not change their willingness to accept use of telemedicine, even with a drastically increased risk of hospital-related transmission of a potentially fatal infectious disease when visiting a hospital. The acceptance of telemedicine use among older patients might not be less sensitive to external environmental factors but instead might be more sensitive to patients' personal factors, such as anxiety for information technology and resistance to changes in their lifestyle.https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/TMR.2021.0052acceptancecoronavirus disease 2019knee osteoarthritisorthopedic practiceoutpatienttelemedicine |
| spellingShingle | Tsuneari Takahashi Ryusuke Ae Koki Kosami Kensuke Minami Meiwa Shibata Tatsuya Kubo Katsushi Takeshita Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Telemedicine Reports acceptance coronavirus disease 2019 knee osteoarthritis orthopedic practice outpatient telemedicine |
| title | Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic |
| title_full | Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic |
| title_short | Change in the Acceptance of Telemedicine Use Among Older Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic |
| title_sort | change in the acceptance of telemedicine use among older patients with knee osteoarthritis during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic |
| topic | acceptance coronavirus disease 2019 knee osteoarthritis orthopedic practice outpatient telemedicine |
| url | https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/TMR.2021.0052 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tsunearitakahashi changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic AT ryusukeae changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic AT kokikosami changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic AT kensukeminami changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic AT meiwashibata changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic AT tatsuyakubo changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic AT katsushitakeshita changeintheacceptanceoftelemedicineuseamongolderpatientswithkneeosteoarthritisduringthecoronavirusdisease2019pandemic |