Telemedicine ready or not? A cross-sectional assessment of telemedicine maturity of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria.

Autor:	Olufunlayo TF; Department of Community Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.; Department of Community Health, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria., Ojo OO; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.; Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria., Ozoh OB; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.; Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria., Agabi OP; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.; Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria., Opara CR; Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria., Taiwo FT; Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria., Fasanmade OA; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.; Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria., Okubadejo NU; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.; Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Nigeria.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Digital health [Digit Health] 2023 Jan 03; Vol. 9, pp. 20552076221150072. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jan 03 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI:	10.1177/20552076221150072
Abstrakt:	Introduction and Objective: Telemedicine has reinforced its position as a means for the continuity of healthcare services and a cost-effective approach to improving health equity as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The preparedness of health systems for telemedicine is an indicator of the scalability of their services, especially during catastrophes. We aimed to assess the maturity and preparedness of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria, to deploy telemedicine as such data are currently lacking and are required to drive improvements in health services delivery. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of thirty randomly selected federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria using the Pan American Health Organization's tool for assessing the maturity level of health institutions to implement telemedicine between 17 September 2020 and 1 September 2021. Descriptive statistics were used for overall maturity levels and non-parametric tests to compare scores for overall maturity and specific Pan American Health Organization domains per region. The level of significance was set at p -value <0.05. Results: The response rate was 77.4% (24 of 30 randomly polled federally funded tertiary health institutions responded). Overall, the median telemedicine maturity level was 2.0 (1.75) indicating a beginner level. No significant inter-zonal difference in the median overall maturity level ( p  = 0.87). The median maturity levels for telemedicine readiness in specific domains were organizational readiness - 2.0 (2.0), processes 1.0 (1.0), digital environment 2.0 (3.0), human resources 2.0 (1.0), regulatory issues - 1.5 (1.0) and expertise 2.0 (2.0); mostly at beginner level, with no inter-zonal differences. Most participating institutions had no initiatives in place for domains of processes and regulatory issues. Conclusions: The current telemedicine maturity level of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria is at the beginner level. This behoves policy-makers to advance the implementation and deployment of telemedicine nationwide as part of digital quality healthcare, to improve health equity and to ensure continuity of healthcare services in the event of another pandemic. Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. (© The Author(s) 2023.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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