Knowledge and Perception of Telemedicine among Medical Students of the University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Background: Telemedicine has promising potential to address the challenges faced by healthcare systems in developing countries, in providing equitable access to quality care. However, the practice of telemedicine is generally poor in these countries. The success of telemedicine like any technology depends on numerous factors including users’ knowledge and perceptions. Hence, this study aimed to examine the knowledge and perceptions of telemedicine among medical students at the University of Jos.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study among 305 clinical medical students selected through a stratified sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of a 28-item 5-point Likert response scale was used to collect data, comprising 13 items for knowledge, 8 for the perception of benefits, and 7 for the perception of ease of use of telemedicine. Data was analyzed using IBM-SPSS.

Results: One hundred and eleven (36.4%) participants had good knowledge of telemedicine, while 113 (37.1%) had a good perception of the benefits and 103 (33.8%) had a good perception of the ease of use. Respondents with a good knowledge of telemedicine were about five times more likely (OR = 5.24, 95% CI = 3.15 – 8.69) to have a good perception of the benefits and about eight times more likely (OR = 8.33, 95% CI = 4.57 – 14.26) to have a good perception of ease of use.

Conclusions: Few medical students possess desirable levels of knowledge and perceptions of telemedicine which portrays a gap in the medical education curriculum. Therefore, training and educational opportunities are recommended to improve their knowledge and perception of telemedicine.