Iranian healthcare professionals’ perspectives about factors influencing the use of telemedicine in diabetes management

Table 1 Cronbach's alpha for the last six parts of the questionnaire

Questionnaire sections	Cronbach's alpha
Perceived ease of use	0.83
Perceived usefulness	0.81
Intention to use	0.85
Users’ attitudes	0.86
Compatibility with other clinical activities	0.80
Security and reliability of technology	0.82

Table 2 Participants' characteristics

Nurses	(%) fx		Physicians	(%) fx
134	F	120 (89.5)	40	F	15 (37.5)
	M	14 (10.5)		M	25 (62.5)
Age (yr)	< 30	50 (37.3)	Age (yr)	< 30	14 (35.0)
	30-39	53 (39.5)		30-39	20 (50.0)
	40-49	21 (15.7)		40-49	6 (15.0)
	50-59	10 (7.5)		50-59	0
Education	BSc	101 (75.3)	Education	GP	20 (50)
	MSc	33 (24.7)		Specialist	20 (50)
Use of Computer	< 1	28 (20.9)	Use of Compute	< 1	7 (17.5)
	1-2	49 (36.6)		1-2	23 (57.5)
	> 2	57 (42.5)		> 2	10 (25.0)

Table 3 Clinicians' attitudes towards using telemedicine technology in diabetes management

Questions	Groups	Strongly disagree	Disagree	No idea	Agree	Strongly agree	mean ± SD	P-value
The use of telemedicine is essential for health care providers in managing patients with diabetes	Physicians	0	2 (5.0)	9 (22.5)	15 (37.5)	14 (35.0)	4.03 ± 0.89	0.57
	Nurses	4 (3.0)	7 (5.2)	24 (17.9)	62 (46.3)	37 (27.6)	3.90 ± 0.96
The use of telemedicine in managing diabetes can reduce the burden of the disease	Physicians	0	3 (7.5)	6 (15.0)	16 (40.0)	15 (37.5)	4.08 ± 0.91	0.459
	Nurses	3 (2.2)	7 (5.2)	17 (12.7)	71 (53.0)	36 (26.9)	3.97 ± 0.90
The use of telemedicine in diabetes management can make working with new systems easier in the future	Physicians	0	2 (5.0)	8 (20.0)	17 (42.5)	13 (32.5)	4.03 ± 0.86	0.824
	Nurses	2 (1.5)	3 (2.2)	19 (14.9)	71 (53.0)	39 (29.1)	4.06 ± 0.81
The use of telemedicine in diabetes management can increase the level of satisfaction among healthcare providers	Physicians	18 (45.0)	14 (35.0)	6 (15.0)	2 (5.0)	0	4.20 ± 0.88	0.094
	Nurses	1 (0.7)	1 (0.7)	24 (17.9)	75 (56.0)	32 (23.9)	4.02 ± 0.72

Table 4 Comparison between the clinicians' perspectives towards factors influencing the use of telemedicine technology in diabetes management

Factors influencing the use of telemedicine technology in diabetes management	Physicians' opinions (mean ± SD)	Nurses' opinions (mean ± SD)	P-value
Perceived ease of use	4.19 ± 0.54	4.06 ± 0.60	0.448
Perceived usefulness	4.17 ± 0.61	3.99 ± 0.53	0.087
Intention to use	4.22 ± 0.72	4.07 ± 0.56	0.078
Users' attitudes	4.08 ± 0.71	3.99 ± 0.65	0.488
Compatibility with other related clinical activities	3.79 ± 0.82	4.02 ± 0.71	0.083
Perceived security and reliability	3.95 ± 0.78	4.02 ± 0.62	0.805