Perceptions about the Implementation and Education of Telemedicine among University Students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Shoukat Ali Arain; Juman Saleh Al Ajlan; Mohammed Ejaz Ahmed; Amjad Abdullah Alshehry; Sultan Ayoub Meo

doi:10.12669/pjms.39.6.7797

Perceptions about the Implementation and Education of Telemedicine among University Students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Pak J Med Sci. 2023 Nov-Dec;39(6):1666-1672. doi: 10.12669/pjms.39.6.7797.

Authors

Shoukat Ali Arain¹, Juman Saleh Al Ajlan², Mohammed Ejaz Ahmed³, Amjad Abdullah Alshehry⁴, Sultan Ayoub Meo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Shoukat Ali Arain Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Juman Saleh Al Ajlan, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Mohammed Ejaz Ahmed, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Amjad Abdullah Alshehry, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Sultan Ayoub Meo Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Objectives: This study evaluated and compared the perceptions, awareness, and experiences of telemedicine among university students in Riyadh.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was distributed electronically to undergraduate university students in Riyadh. The study was conducted from September 2021 to March 2022. Five-point Likert scale data were reported as percent agreement, while open-text comments were reported as recurring themes. Besides, the perceptions of medical students were compared with students from other disciplines.

Results: Of 564 participants, 209 (37%) were medical students. Most respondents agreed that telemedicine could save patients' time (77.7%) and improve access to healthcare (73.4%). The agreement was low for the statements that doctors would effectively evaluate the clinical features (39.2%) and that patients would effectively communicate their illnesses (44.3%). The agreement of medical students compared to students from other disciplines was even lower for these statements (25% vs. 47%; p<0.001) and (37% vs. 48%; p=0.03), respectively. Most medical students reported that they never learned about telemedicine (65%) and its tools (69%). Lack of awareness, training of healthcare workers and perceived lower quality of healthcare emerged as the most relevant factors for the limited acceptance of telemedicine.

Conclusions: Most participants perceived that telemedicine could save patients' time and improve access to healthcare. The low agreement, especially of medical students, for the ability of physicians to evaluate clinical features and of patients to communicate illnesses effectively possibly represented suboptimal education of telemedicine in medical curricula. Thus, incorporating telemedicine into medical curricula and improving public awareness might expedite telemedicine implementation.

Keywords: Medical curricula; Medical students; Perceptions; Telemedicine; University students.