TELEMEDICINE IN THE PRACTICE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS IN BULGARIA – OPPORTUNITIES DURING A PANDEMIC
Keywords:
telemedicine, general practitioners, health care, health, pandemicAbstract
The opportunities for the development of telemedicine in Bulgaria are great and are expected to reveal their potential. The application of telemedicine solutions in the practice of general practitioners is relevant in the context of the COVID-19 crisis and the shortage of medical professionals, especially in remote and sparsely populated areas. The aim of this study is to explore the possibilities of telemedicine in the practice of general practitioners in a pandemic.
Material and methods. Our own toolkit has been created – a questionnaire with the help of Google forms. In the study conducted in the period from November 1 to December 15, 2021, 109 women (73.6%) and 39 men (26.4%) participated voluntarily and anonymously, all of them general practitioners. Results and discussion. General practitioners apply telemedicine solutions in a pandemic. The most common means of monitoring and consultation used by them is the telephone. Just over 25% of them believe that in this type of examination patients cannot clearly state their problems, especially the elderly. At the same time, they take into account the benefits. More than 80% of the general practitioners state that their attitude towards telemedicine has changed since the COVID-19 crisis, and more than 87% share they have had to use it as a means of communication with patients. Our respondents believe that the lack of institutional support, funding and insufficient digital skills of patients (especially the elderly) are among the main obstacles to the use or application of telemedicine. More than 2/3 of the respondents believe that the costs should be shared between the patient and the National Health Insurance Fund. More than half of the them (56.1%) reckon that data is protected online in telemedicine services. Conclusion. The study defines positive attitudes towards the application of telemedicine in the practice of general practitioners. For most of them, the COVID-19 pandemic changed their minds and they had to implement telemedicine solutions in their practice.
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