Table 2.
Study variables
| Variable | Definition | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Telemedicine use | ICT use for diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients in situations where those involved are separated by place and/or time [44] | Dichotomous variable. 0 = no; 1 = yes. The variable is additive and considers ICT use for the purposes of contacting national and international professionals of exchanging valid information for diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients and of disseminating research activities with the aim of improving people's health |
| Ease-of-use of ICTs in clinical practice | Degree to which the physician considers that using ICTs in clinical practice means that less efforts will be required to perform his or her tasks | Categorical variable. 1 = perceived ease-of-use is nil; 2 = very low; 3 = low; 4 = average; 5 = quite high; 6 = high; 7 = very high |
| Perceived usefulness of ICTs in clinical practice | Degree to which the physician believes that using ICTs in clinical practice improves his or her performance in an activity in the short-term | Metric variable obtained from exploratory factor analysis. The original variables included in the analysis are measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The variables making up the factor are those indicating how the physician perceives that using ICTs enables errors to be controlled when performing an activity or a patient's evolution to be monitored |
| Optimism | Degree to which the physician considers that using ICTs in clinical practice will enable him or her to obtain benefits or reduce effort in the future | Metric variable obtained from exploratory factor analysis. The original variables included in the analysis are measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The variables making up the factor are those indicating how the physician perceives that using ICTs enables relationships with patients to be improved and better treatments to be recommended |
| Propensity to innovate | The individual's propensity to innovate in his or her day-to-day work using ICTs | Categorical variable. 5 = the individual totally agrees; 1 = totally disagrees |
| Level of ICT use | Degree to which the physician uses ICTs outside work | Dichotomous variable. 0 = his or her ICT use is low; 1 = high |