Date of Award

11-20-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Health Policy and Management

First Advisor

Dr. Narjis Rizvi

Second Advisor

Dr. Zahra Hoodbhoy

Department

Community Health Sciences

Abstract

Background: Economic crisis has made access to healthcare increasingly difficult in Pakistan. As a result, health conditions are worsening at an alarming rate. Public health sector is endeavoring to provide Universal Health Coverage (UHC), but scarce resources is a constraint. People are forced to seek services from private health sector that result in rising out of pocket expenditure. Within this context, Telemedicine seems to be a good option for making healthcare affordable and enhance access.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the stakeholders’ acceptability of telemedicine for outpatient care in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methods: The design was a mixed-method sequential study. Quantitative data was collected through a cross-sectional survey; the sample size was determined to be 163 based on research done in the United Arab Emirates [17]. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire that was translated into Urdu and distributed to the general adult population at a mall in the district Central Karachi. 10 Key Informant Interviews were done for the qualitative component, semi-structured interview guides using data gathered from The Kidney Centre and Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases and manually analyzed thematically. The conceptual framework for this study was the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).
Finding(s): A total of 163 participants were included, out of which 80.4% were female and 19.6% were male, 42.3% of participants fall between the age group of 29-38 years, 65% were graduate and 77.3% of them were professionals. Majority (87.1%) have universal access to internet and 54% have ever heard of telemedicine services but only few (40.5%) were aware of telemedicine services available in their city. When asked about ease of use 67.5% think that telemedicine is an easy option for consultation, while 81% said that it saves time. 45.4% were of the view that Telemedicine will help them in getting appropriate treatment, 33% thinks that it provides better quality of healthcare. 42.9% agreed that Telemedicine will save their expenditure, 62% people think that decreasing the cost will increase the number of consultations through the internet. 71.1% expressed that Telemedicine is the accepted norm, while 60.1% take this medium to be safe and reliable. All these findings were validated by the key informant interviews, healthcare providers also added that only decreasing the cost will not change the attitude of the community there is dire need to raise awareness among the population.
Conclusion: The study was conducted to assess the acceptability of telemedicine for outpatient care among the stakeholders, the general community and the healthcare providers in the light of Technology Acceptance Model. The study found out that the majority of respondents had universal access to the internet connection but when asked about awareness of telemedicine services almost one half were not aware. Almost half of the population perceived it to be a useful option but equal numbers of participants remained indifferent. People agreed that telemedicine is equally effective, will save their time and remove accessibility barriers to avail their required healthcare services which is the main concern but only a few are availing the services in real. Conclusively we can say that it is necessary to raise awareness of what telemedicine is and how it operates.

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