Evidence-Based Medicine
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jun 15, 2018; 9(6): 92-98
Published online Jun 15, 2018. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v9.i6.92
Iranian healthcare professionals’ perspectives about factors influencing the use of telemedicine in diabetes management
Haleh Ayatollahi, Nader Mirani, Fatemeh Nazari, Narjes Razavi
Haleh Ayatollahi, Nader Mirani, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1996713883, Iran
Fatemeh Nazari, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan 4513956111, Iran
Narjes Razavi, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1996713883, Iran
Author contributions: Mirani N designed the study and conducted the literature review and analysis, and drafted the manuscript; Ayatollahi H supervised the study and edited the manuscript; Nazari F and Razavi N helped with collecting the data and preparing the manuscript.
Supported by Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, No. IUMS/SHMIS_94/27219.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Nader Mirani, MSc, Lecturer, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, No. 6, Shahid Yasami St., Vali-e-Asr St., Tehran 1996713883, Iran. mirani.n@tak.iums.ac.ir
Telephone: +98-21-88794301 Fax: +98-21-88794301
Received: March 8, 2018
Peer-review started: March 8, 2018
First decision: April 4, 2018
Revised: April 30, 2018
Accepted: May 15, 2018
Article in press: May 15, 2018
Published online: June 15, 2018
Processing time: 98 Days and 22.1 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To identify factors influencing the use of telemedicine in diabetes management from the perspectives of healthcare professionals.

METHODS

This was a quantitative study that was conducted in 2016. The participants were 240 nurses and 55 physicians from three teaching hospitals as well as from one endocrinology and metabolism research center. No sampling method was used and the data were collected by using a five-point (1 to 5) Likert scale questionnaire, which had 37 questions. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U test) were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The findings showed that both physicians (4.06 ± 0.69) and nurses (4.02 ± 0.61) tended to use telemedicine technology for managing diabetes. Overall, the lowest mean value for physicians (3.79 ± 0.82) was related to the compatibility of telemedicine with other clinical activities in diabetes management. For nurses, the lowest mean value pertained to the usefulness of telemedicine in diabetes management (3.99 ± 0.53) and their attitude toward using this technology (3.99 ±0.65).

CONCLUSION

Although physicians and nurses agreed on using telemedicine technology in diabetes management, it is necessary to consider their concerns prior to the implementation and deployment of new technologies. This approach will help to improve the level of technology acceptance among the users.

Keywords: Telemedicine; Diabetes mellitus; Physicians; Nurses

Core tip: In this study, factors influencing the use of telemedicine in diabetes management were identified from the perspectives of Iranian healthcare professionals. The results revealed that both physicians and nurses intended to use telemedicine technology for managing diabetes. However, the compatibility of using telemedicine technology with other clinical activities related to diabetes management and the usefulness of this technology were two main concerns for the healthcare professionals. Therefore, it is essential to pay more attention to these factors and similar ones prior to system design and deployment.