Table 3. Barriers and benefits of telemedicine (range: 1 = high approval to 5 = very low approval).
| Statements on barriers and benefits telemedicine | Total (n = 905) | Employees (n = 438) |
Students (n = 467) |
p# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | SD& | Mean | SD& | Mean | SD& | ||
| Collecting health data via telemonitoring improves the holistic view of the patients. | 2.6 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.143 |
| Telemedicine improves interaction between physicians and patients. | 2.9 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.167 |
| Online health information improves patient knowledge. | 3.0 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.001** |
| Data security and privacy are guaranteed for electronically collected health data. | 3.5 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 0.356 |
| Telemedicine offers location-independent health services. | 2.0 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.031* |
| Telemedicine reduces healthcare costs. | 2.7 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.030* |
| Telemedicine facilitates medical care. | 2.7 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.184 |
| Telemedicine reduces multiple diagnoses. | 2.8 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.656 |
| Telemedicine enhances quality of healthcare. | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.167 |
| Telemedicine reduces healthcare administration. | 2.9 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.993 |
| Telemedicine enhances doctor-patient relationship. | 3.3 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 0.350 |
& SD: Standard deviation,
# P values from Mann—Whitney U tests employees vs. students,
* p<0.05,
** p<0.001