Telemedicine and COVID-19 An Investigation of the Perceived Impact on Medical Professionals in Rural and Urban Areas
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Authors
Royster, Drew
Issue Date
2021-05-10
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Description/Abstract
Telemedicine use has increased substantially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though it has been widely implemented, its accessibility has been a barrier in rural healthcare communities in comparison to urban healthcare. Telemedicine can be defined as the electronic exchange of medical information through a variety of digital mediums. The sudden spike in telemedicine usage in the past year has clearly exposed the weaknesses of this mode of medicine in both rural and urban areas. The main focus of this study is to assess the attitudes and perspective of medical professionals in rural and urban communities as it relates to telemedicine and the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be done through a survey sent out to a variety of medical professionals in a quantitative format. From this study, it was found that the COVID-19 had a major impact on the use of telemedicine in the surveyed communities. Even more so, the majority of participants had a positive attitude toward telemedicine, after experiencing it throughout the pandemic.