An insight into the bilateral readiness towards telemedicin

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to profile and explore the technological and behavioral readiness of the physicians and patients towards telemedicine, supplemented by a secondary objective of getting additional insight about the status quo of technological readiness regarding the telemedicine in Dhaka city of Bangladesh. Structured questionnaire-based survey responses from 600 patients/individuals and 100 physicians are analyzed by using descriptive (i.e., Frequency Distribution) and inferential (i.e., Contingency Table of Association, Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modeling, Factor Analysis) statistical tools for meeting the defined objectives of this study. Findings show favorable technological readiness of the respondents compared to behavioral readiness which is unfavorable. Gender diversity has a significant association with the different levels of access to elementary technology by the patients/individuals, whereas education level fails to prove to have any association. Different levels of skill at using technology by the individuals significantly influence their behavioral readiness and intention to accept telemedicine in Bangladesh. However, behavioral readiness is mostly defined by patients/individuals’ expectation from telemedicine regarding the effectiveness, easiness, reliability, need, and satisfaction. The issue of the implication of this study can be enlightened from two perspectives. First, the findings of this study will provide the interested parties a greater insight in terms of telemedicine through addressing the perplexing situation of Bangladesh about to arise whenever someone going to introduce a new system or way doing anything as an alternative of the conventional way doing or thinking. It is usual to face a barrier in changing anything. That is why it is also essential to know the sources of the barrier, what they think and expect. So, in this study, the researchers try to address these issues of telemedicine.