Abstract:

Objective To survey the participant situation of the medical staff from primary hospital in a tele-ophthalmology project. Design Questionnaire investigation. Participants 276 medical staff from the 44 primary hospital， in which the implementation was more than six months in tele-ophthalmology project of Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology. Methods A self-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire included basic information of the respondents, and their awareness of the background of the cooperation projects, whether using the software system and use degree, whether there is additional income and whether satisfaction with the status quo of additional income in the tele-ophthalmology. Logistic analysis was used to analyze the influence factors of the use rate and the degree of the use of tele-ophthalmology system. The considered factors included the personal characteristics (gender, age, department, education, position and professional title) and hospital types (level, nature, category, department setting). Main Outcome Measures Awareness rate, usage rate of software system in tele-ophthalmology, satisfaction rate. Results All respondents (256 cases) are familiar with the background of the project cooperation. 217 (84.8%) medical staff use the tele-ophthalmology software system, which include164 (75.6%) doctors. 15 (6.9%) medical staff involved in tele-ophthalmology with additional income. 129 (59.4%) medical staff are not satisfied on the status quo of income. The use rate of tele-ophthalmology software system in chief physician/associate chief physicians was higher than that in the general staffs (P<0.05). The use rate of software system in the doctors working in the hospital without the setting of the ophthalmology department was higher than that in the hospitals with the setting of the ophthalmology department (P<0.05). 116 (70.7%) doctors used tele-ophthalmology software system for the patients in need. 48 (29.3%) doctors used it for all outpatients. The selective use rate for patients in need of the doctor aged 31~40 was higher than that of the doctors aged 41~50 or older (P<0.05). Conclusion All respondents are familiar with the tele-ophthalmology work, and the use rate of the tele-ophthalmology software system takes the higher percentage. Doctor is the main force of tele-ophthalmology. But most of the respondents have no additional income. They are not satisfied with the status quo. The doctors with administrative function or working in the hospital without ophthalmology department setting are more motivated to the work. Most doctors, especially younger doctors, provide patients with a selective tele-ophthalmology service.

Key words: tele-ophthalmology, medical staff, positivity, satisfaction, questionnaire