Evaluating community knowledge, attitude, and practices toward implementation of telemedicine in Saudi Arabia

BackgroundThe urgent need to provide fast, low-cost, affordable, and high-quality medical services is one of the requirements of todays modern world, which is characterized by a fast pace and search for the best services, especially regarding medical consultation and treatment. These demands have led to the invention of new ways that medical services can be provided to patients in their homes. MethodsA cross-sectional study, conducted in February 2022 and ended in June 2023 with a representative sample of different categories of citizens. The study population included 281 (81.9%) males and 62 (18.1%) females (SD.385, mean 1.18). The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Saudi citizens in the Riyadh region regarding telemedicine. ResultsThe study revealed that only 30.3% of respondents were able to select the correct definition of the term telemedicine from three alternatives, which may reflect poor knowledge about telemedicine. A total of 19.5% of our participants said that they used telemedicine services only for medical consultations, while 13.7 said they used it for diagnosis and treatment. A total of 104 (88.9) out of 117 of the respondents believed that telemedicine has a positive impact on reducing costs and saving time. ConclusionThe study concluded that the main barriers that limit the use of telemedicine services are a lack of confidence in accessing telemedicine, difficulty in communicating due to the use of different languages and dialects, and the fact that services are not suitable for uneducated people.