Expectations and perceived barriers to widespread implementation of e-Health in cardiology practice: Results from a national survey in the Netherlands

Abstract

Introduction Expectations of physicians concerning e-Health and perceived barriers to implementation in clinical practice are scarcely reported in the literature. The purpose of this study was to assess these aspects of cardiovascular e-Health.Methods A survey was sent to members of the Netherlands Society of Cardiology. In total, the questionnaire contained 30 questions about five topics: personal use of smartphones, digital communication between respondents and patients, current e-Health implementation in clinical practice, expectations about e-Health and perceived barriers for e-Health implementation. Age, personal use of smartphones and professional environment were noted as baseline characteristics.Results In total, 255 respondents filled out the questionnaire (response rate 25%); 89.4% of respondents indicated that they considered e-Health to be clinically beneficial, improving patient satisfaction (90.2%), but also that it will increase the workload (83.9%). Age was a negative predictor and personal use of smartphones was a positive predictor of having high expectations. Lack of reimbursement was identified by 66.7% of respondents as a barrier to e-Health implementation, as well as a lack of reliable devices (52.9%) and a lack of data integration with electronic medical records (EMRs) (69.4%).Conclusion Cardiologists are in general positive about the possibilities of e-Health implementation in routine clinical care; however, they identify deficient data integration into the EMR, reimbursement issues and lack of reliable devices as major barriers. Age and personal use of smartphones are predictors of expectations of e-Health, but the professional working environment is not.