Acceptance of Telemedical Treatments – A Medical Professional Point of View

The demographic change has tremendous consequences for health care availability, with a growing mismatch between rising numbers of patients and the declining number of care personnel. As a consequence, considerable shortcomings in availability, accessibility, and quality of health care can be expected. Telemedicine and telemonitoring services are promising approaches to compensate this gap, especially for long-term monitoring, nevertheless also within the supply chain of health care. Despite the potential, the acceptance of telemedicine is quite low. In this paper we report on two studies focusing on acceptance of telemedical services. First, chronically ill persons were experimentally studied with respect to their acceptance of telemedical systems. Second, a survey was conducted to assess medical professionals’ points of view. Findings reveal perceived benefits in the context of telemedical services, however, also considerable barriers, especially on the medical doctors’ side. Outcomes may contribute to the development of a sensitive and transparent communication and information strategy for stakeholders, as well as a public awareness for the benefits and the drawbacks of telemedical services.