Abstract

The recent introduction of information technology has improved the quality of healthcare services. In many developing countries, including Malaysia, patients suffer from a shortage of trained medical specialists and teleconsultation (TC) would ease access to specialists. The need to know if doctors are willing to accept such technology has prompted this study. The objective of the study therefore was to measure the acceptance, knowledge, and attitude towards tele-consultation among doctors in Conselor Tuanku Muhriz, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (HCTM) and to identify the factors which influence its acceptance. Factors such as socio-demographics, knowledge, attitude, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) towards tele-consultation were chosen according to the technology acceptance model (TAM) and some literature. This was a cross-sectional study based on a quantitative method. Data was collected from HCTM outpatient clinics in Cheras area, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March 2017. A total of 90 questionnaires were collected from eight different outpatient clinics in HCTM. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 22.0) was used to analyse the data. The results showed an acceptance rate of 63.3% among doctors in HCTM. The study also showed that perception of usefulness and positive attitude had a significant association with the acceptance of TC. In conclusion, this study has revealed the important factors that have influenced tele-consultation acceptance as perceived usefulness and positive attitude. Furthermore, the overall findings from the study suggest that TAM is an appropriate model for explaining physicians' technology acceptance decisions.

Keywords: Telemedicine; Perception; Tele-consultation; Acceptance; Doctors