Attitude of patients and their attendants towards digital communication technologies to communicate with healthcare providers

Singapore Journal of Nursing Research

By Asma Mansoor, Ather Akhlaq, Komal Sohani · August 19, 2020 · 1 min read

https://sjnrjournal.com/article/anomalous-origin-of-left-coronary-artery-from-right-sinus-of-valsalva-a-case-report

Abstract. Interaction between patients and healthcare providers is very important for the quality of care. Social networking sites, apps and other forms of digital communication such as WhatsApp, Facebook, blogs and emails have opened new ways of communications between patients and healthcare providers. The aim of this study is to assess the attitude of patients and their attendants using digital communication technologies to interact with healthcare providers for a number of reasons such as health education and details of test result. A total of 621 patients and their attendants participated in this study. The data were analyzed using Chi-square statistical test. Among respondents, 90.8% (n=564) used Facebook, 92.6% (n=575) used text messages (SMS & WhatsApp), 82.1% (n=510) used email, 63.1% (n=392) used Skype/ video call, and 24.3% (n=151) respondents favored twitter messages. 81.3% n=505 respondents want to join Facebook page to communicate with other patients (p=0.000) whereas 67.1% n=417 of them want to sign-up to receive twitter message from health care provider (p=0.000). Majority of the patients and their attendants are moving toward a social media and digital communication technology, and prefer communication with healthcare provider and their peers regarding treatment, diagnosis and health education. Once they get through with the traditional method of face to face consultation with healthcare provider.

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