Table 5.

Responder’s knowledge and opinions about telemedicine

Telemedicine knowledge and general opinion
Knowledge of the telemedicine before the COVID-19 pandemic, N (%)
Yes	225 (43%)
No	300 (57%)
Main advantage of telemedicine, N (%)
Saving time	327 (70%)
Saving money	47 (10%)
No accompanying persons needed	91 (20%)
Main disadvantage of telemedicine, N (%)
Difficulties in using technologies due to MS	27 (6%)
Difficulties in using technologies in general	40 (8%)
Lack of technological support	6 (1%)
Difficulties in fully explaining health problems	64 (14%)
No possibility of assessing neurological status	337 (71%)
0–4 score evaluation of utility and completeness of telemedicine, mean (SD)	2.1 (1.0)
Preference of telemedicine compared to telephone contact, N (%)
Yes	278 (82%)
No	62 (18%)
Preference of telemedicine compared to visits at the center, N (%)
Yes, always	10 (2%)
Yes, but periodically	78 (17%)
Yes, but occasionally	231 (51%)
No	138 (30%)
When telemedicine can replace visits at the center
Normal FU for exams monitoring, N (%)	251 (81%)
Assistance for the onset of a new symptom or for urgences, N (%)	132 (43%)
Evaluation of therapy change, N (%)	95 (31%)
Multidisciplinary visit, N (%)	52 (17%)
For patients from a different region, N (%)	113 (37%)
For patients with mobility problems, N (%)	131 (42%)
Open to use technologies to evaluate neurological measurements during a telemedicine visit, N (%)
No	132 (28%)
It depends on the cost and on difficulty in their use	120 (25%)
Yes	222 (47%)
Open to use a Web App to update personal information, information about therapies, exams and visits reports, N (%)
No	54 (14%)
Yes	321 (86%)
Evaluation of telemedicine, if experienced, N (%)
Not able to connect	33 (52%)
Assistance needed	4 (6%)
Some problems but solved in autonomy	6 (9%)
No problems	21 (33%)
0–10 score evaluation of telemedicine, if experienced, mean (SD)	6.7 (2.9)