Patient satisfaction with dermatology teleconsultation by using MedX

Yao-Chin Wang; Bilegjin Ganzorig; Chieh-Chen Wu; Usman Iqbal; Hafash-Arshed-Ali Khan; Wan-Shan Hsieh; Wen-Shan Jian; Yu-Chuan Jack Li

doi:10.1016/j.cmpb.2018.10.015

Patient satisfaction with dermatology teleconsultation by using MedX

Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2018 Dec:167:37-42. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2018.10.015. Epub 2018 Oct 18.

Authors

Yao-Chin Wang¹, Bilegjin Ganzorig², Chieh-Chen Wu³, Usman Iqbal⁴, Hafash-Arshed-Ali Khan⁵, Wan-Shan Hsieh⁶, Wen-Shan Jian⁷, Yu-Chuan Jack Li⁸

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Emergency, Min-Sheng General Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
² School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Masters Program in Global Health and Development Department, PhD Program in Global Health and Health Security Department, College of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; International Center for Health Information Technology (ICHIT), Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁵ International Center for Health Information Technology (ICHIT), Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; International Center for Health Information Technology (ICHIT), Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dermatology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: jj@tmu.edu.tw.
⁸ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; International Center for Health Information Technology (ICHIT), Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dermatology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: jack@tmu.edu.tw.

PMID: 30501858
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2018.10.015

Abstract

Background: The development of telecommunication has strongly affected comprehensive scientific disciplines, including medical sciences.

Objective: This study aims to assess the patient satisfaction of the teleconsultation system used for the consultation of dermatological follow-up care.

Methods: The study was performed cross sectional patient satisfaction survey method conducted between February and April 2017 to determine patient satisfaction using MedX teleconsultation system. The patient sample of the current study was recruited from cosmetic laser clinic, Wanfang and Taipei Medical University hospital. The study was performed on 32 patient (n = 32) participants. All of them were at least university graduate. Consultants and patients were handled using the Android-based MedX mobile application, which is available through an application for Google Android cellular telephones. Its application consists of a demographic information, structured step-by-step questionnaire, essential medical information about each patient, and digital images of skin lesions.

Results: 28 patients completed the questionnaire. The mean ± SD age of the patients was 27.25 ± 4.039 years; 78.6% were women. The study shows that respondents have reported a high level (85.8%) of mean overall satisfaction for the teleconsultation service. The usability of the system has highest satisfaction rate of 90.5% among the other subscales especially in terms of data transfer and data displayed. Responses of the patient satisfaction questionnaire were analyzed by age and gender, no statistically significant difference between the variables was found.

Conclusion: Patients have shown high satisfaction with teleconsultation service and it is well accepted in the management of cosmetic dermatology service. In the future, MedX application can be integrated into other instant messaging applications such as Line, thus allowing doctors and patients to easily communicate with each other.

Keywords: MedX application; Mobile phone; Patient satisfaction; Teleconsultation; Teledermatology.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cell Phone
Computer Systems
Computers
Cross-Sectional Studies
Decision Making
Dermatology / methods*
Female
Humans
Male
Medical Informatics / methods*
Mobile Applications
Patient Satisfaction*
Remote Consultation / methods*
Software
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult