RCOG World Congress 2023

Hong Kong gynaecologists’ acceptability of telemedicine technology during the COVID-19

Jennifer Kwok Ting Li, Carmen Diana Chung

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Palmela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong

Introduction: Under the influence of COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing was strictly upheld. The cooperation of telemedicine technology into medical services became the trend. In Hong Kong, telemedicine has not been widely introduced.

Aims and Objectives: Primary aim: to study Hong Kong gynaecologists’ acceptance of telemedicine with use of a questionnaire derived from validated model: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Secondary aim: to identify factors affecting gynaecologists’ acceptability

Methods: Prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2022. The questionnaire was distributed to specialists and trainees working in Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Palmela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.

Areas assessed include:

§Perceived usefulness (PU)

§Perceived ease of use (PEOU)

§Attitude (ATT)

§Intention to use of telemedicine (ITU)

Participants indicated their degree of agreement or disagreement concerning each item using a seven-point Likert scale when telemedicine is applied to the subspecialties under Gynaecology (General Gynaecology, Urogynaecology, Gynaecological Oncology and Reproductive Medicine).

One sample t-tests against zero were performed to analyse participants’ attitude towards telemedicine.

MANOVA was performed to analyse the effect of subspecialties, areas of telemedicine, and their interaction effect of telemedicine acceptance.

Results: 20 gynaecologists participated in the study (response rate 95%)

§Respondent have positive acceptance (p <.05) for telemedicine to all gynaecology subspecialties.

§The main effect of aspect of telemedicine on their attitude is significant (p=.03)

§There was no significant difference when comparing among subspecialties on their relative acceptance of telemedicine (p=.07) and no significant interaction effect (p=.51)

§Concerning association between demographics with their attitude, the higher the respondent's position, the higher the acceptance of telemedicine when applied to gynaecological oncology (p=.02)

Conclusion:Local gynaecologists in Hong Kong positively accept applying telemedicine in gynaecology. Even with the uplifting of social distancing restrictions for the COVID-19, telemedicine is a new direction for medical consultations. Further studies could be conducted to look at difference in acceptability of telemedicine before and after application.

RCOG World Congress 2023

Hong Kong gynaecologists’ acceptability of telemedicine technology during the COVID-19

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