Table 4.
Participants’ perceptions of privacy and medicolegal issues surrounding telehealth clinicsa.
| Questions | Overall (N=664), n (%) | Prenatal <18 weeks (n=269), n (%) | Prenatal between 24 and 31 weeks (n=198), n (%) | Postpartum (n=197), n (%) | Prenatal combined vs postpartum (P value) | ||
| Do you think current laws and guidelines are sufficient to protect a patient’s rights when using a telehealth clinic? | .08 | ||||||
| Totally agree /agree | 83 (12.6) | 34 (12.6) | 21 (10.7) | 28 (14.4) | |||
| Totally disagree /disagree | 336 (50.8) | 150 (55.8) | 100 (50.8) | 86 (44.1) | |||
| When using telehealth clinics, how worried are you about facing the following scenarios? | |||||||
| Leakage of personal information and verifying patient’s identity | .11 | ||||||
| Very worried/worried | 401 (60.6) | 171 (63.6) | 112 (56.6) | 118 (60.5) | |||
| Totally not worried/not worried | 93 (14) | 46 (17.1) | 27 (13.6) | 20 (10.3) | |||
| Inappropriate use of the telehealth consultation record (eg, for marketing) | .01 | ||||||
| Very worried/worried | 464 (70.1) | 201 (74.7) | 139 (70.2) | 124 (63.6) | |||
| Totally not worried/not worried | 72 (10.9) | 31 (11.5) | 21 (10.6) | 20 (10.3) | |||
| Legal issues arising from misdiagnosis and wrong treatment provided in the telehealth clinic | .04 | ||||||
| Very worried/worried | 511 (77.4) | 213 (79.8) | 154 (77.8) | 144 (73.8) | |||
| Totally not worried/not worried | 35 (5.3) | 16 (6) | 12 (6.1) | 7 (3.6) | |||
| Do you think that more new legislation should be introduced on the following issues with the implementation of telehealth clinics? | |||||||
| Confidentiality of personal data | <.001 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 531 (80.2) | 228 (84.8) | 164 (82.8) | 139 (71.3) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 28 (4.2) | 9 (3.3) | 9 (4.5) | 10 (5.1) | |||
| Obtaining consent for recording the telehealth consultation | <.001 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 541 (81.7) | 235 (87.4) | 164 (82.8) | 142 (72.8) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 21 (3.2) | 4 (1.5) | 8 (4) | 9 (4.6) | |||
| Storage of videos from the telehealth consultation | <.001 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 522 (78.9) | 226 (84) | 160 (80.8) | 136 (69.7) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 30 (4.5) | 10 (3.7) | 8 (4) | 12 (6.2) | |||
| Do you think telehealth consultations should be recorded by pregnant women? | .82 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 312 (47.1) | 120 (44.6) | 102 (51.5) | 90 (46.2) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 161 (24.3) | 74 (27.5) | 41 (20.7) | 46 (23.6) | |||
| Do you think the telehealth consultation should be recorded by the doctors as part of the medical record? | .30 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 232 (35.0) | 81 (30.1) | 74 (37.4) | 77 (39.5) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 227 (34.3) | 104 (38.7) | 61 (30.8) | 62 (31.8) | |||
| Do you think a written record of the consultation should be provided to the patient? | .78 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 385 (58.2) | 147 (54.6) | 123 (62.4) | 115 (59) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 91 (13.8) | 44 (16.4) | 23 (11.7) | 24 (12.3) | |||
| Would your confidence in the successful implementation of telehealth clinics be enhanced with the enforcement of stricter laws and guidelines? | .97 | ||||||
| Totally agree/agree | 363 (54.8) | 141 (52.4) | 114 (57.6) | 108 (55.4) | |||
| Totally disagree/disagree | 74 (11.2) | 34 (12.6) | 19 (9.6) | 21 (10.8) | |||
aChi-square test was performed after removing missing data for each factor.