The perception of telemedicine by patients and doctors as a way of their interaction in the process of providing medical care

Background. The digital transformation of healthcare is a strategic direction for the development of the industry [2], while issues related to the provision of medical care in the new conditions of the virtual model and the behavior of patients as consumers and doctors as "providers" of digital medical services remain relevant for study [4, 5].

Objective: to evaluate the perception of telemedicine by patients and doctors living in urban and rural areas as a way of their interaction in providing medical care.

Materials and methods. The study was conducted in medical organizations of the Nizhny Novgorod region using a questionnaire survey of patients and doctors based on author's questionnaires. The study involved 507 patients and 202 doctors.

Results: Most of the surveyed patients of all groups are ready for remote interaction with a doctor in the process of receiving medical care and believe that telemedicine consultations should develop both in the doctor-patient and doctor-physician directions. However, according to 31.1% ± 4.9% of the urban hospital patient and 25.0% ± 3.0% of CRH patients, telemedicine consultations are possible only in the doctor-to-doctor format. Among parents who bring their children to children's clinics, there were significantly fewer such respondents (15.8% ± 2.7%).

As in the patient group, more than half of doctors (57.8% ± 3.5%) believe that telemedicine consultations should develop both in the doctor-patient direction and in the direction of the doctor is a doctor. At the same time, only 5.0% ± 1.5% of doctors consider the doctor-patient referral to be a priority, compared to 27.4% ± 2.0% in the patient group. The chi2 test showed the influence of the age factor on the perception of telemedicine in both the patient group (χ2 = 18.452; p-value = 5.196*10-3) and

Conclusions: The data obtained confirm the willingness of patients and doctors, regardless of their place of residence, to use telemedicine. However, when implementing telemedicine, the age factor must be taken into account. At the same time, a group of respondents aged 60 and older expressed greater willingness to digital visits than a group of 40-59-year-olds.