Evaluation of the Opinions of Family Physicians About Online Visual Examination Usage at the Follow-Up of Chronic Diseases

Elif Ender, Beray Gelmez Taş, Güzin Zeren Öztürk

Keywords: chronic disease, follow up, online examination

Background:
The reluctance of individuals to visit the hospital due to the pandemic has caused disruptions in the follow-up of patients with chronic disease, and the use of alternative methods has been started to be considered. Online visual examination(OVE) of patients is an example. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the opinions of family physicians about OVE usage in chronic disease follow-up.

Research questions:
What do family physicians think about the usage of OVE in chronic disease follow-up? What are the positive and negative features of OVE that affect family physicians practice?

Method:
The study was cross-sectional, descriptive and analytic. An online web-based survey was performed on family physicians in 15 days. In the survey, there are 20 questions about physicians sociodemographic features and opinions about OVE.

Results:
Of the 108 participants in our study those who worked in the profession for 0-5 years were 49.1%, 5-10 years were 18.4%, and those with >10 years were 32.5%. 57.4% of the participants knew about OVE, 41.7% stated that chronic diseases could be followed with OVE, 31.5% stated that they were undecided. 68.2% of the participants stated diabetes, 72.7% hypertension, 58% hyperlipidemia, 67% depression, anxiety follow-up can be done via OVE. 66(61.1%) people thought that prescription repetitions could be done via OVE. 40.7% wanted to serve their patients with OVE, and 51.4% thought that this would increase their workload. Those who wanted OVE to become widespread were 34.3%. 89.8% of the participants thought that OVE would create legal problems. There was no statistically significant relationship between age, gender, experience, and willingness to serve patients via the OVE (p>0.05).

Conclusions:
Although participants think that OVE can be used for chronic disease management, the majority think that it will increase the workload and cause legal problems. Therefore those who wish the expansion of OVE are in the minority.

Points for discussion:
What do you think about OVE usage? Does it increase our workload?

How can we use the OVE without causing legal problems at follow-up of chronic diseases?