Acceptance of telemedicine compared to in-person consultation from the providers and users’ perspectives: A multicenter, cross-sectional study in dermatology (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Teledermatology is currently finding its place in modern healthcare worldwide. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the acceptance of teledermatology compared to in-person consultation from the perspective of patients and professionals. METHODS This multicenter, cross-sectional pilot study was performed at secondary and tertiary referral centers of Dermatology in Switzerland from August 2019 to January 2020. A customized questionnaire addressing demographics and educational data, experience with telemedicine and presumed willingness to replace in-patient consultations with teledermatology was completed by dermatological patients, dermatologists, and healthcare workers in dermatology. RESULTS Among a total of 664 participants, the ones with previous telemedicine experience (25.8%; 171/664) indicated a high level of satisfaction with it (patients: 68.9%, dermatologists: 75.0%, health care workers: 79.4%). Patients, dermatologists, and healthcare workers were most likely willing to replace in-person consultations with teledermatology for minor health issues (P = .029). We observed a higher preference for telemedicine among individuals who have already used telemedicine (patients: P < .001, dermatologists: P = .03, healthcare workers, P = .005), as well as among patients with higher educational levels (P = .003). CONCLUSIONS Our study indicates that the preference for teledermatology has high potential to increase over time since previous experience with telemedicine and a higher level of education was associated with a higher willingness to replace in-patient consultations with telemedicine. We assume that minor skin problems are the most promising field for teledermatology. Our findings emphasize the need for dermatologists to be actively involved in the transition to teledermatology. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04495036.