Attitude and perceptions of healthcare professionals towards digital health technologies: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To assess the attitudes and perceptions of healthcare professionals (HCPs) towards digital health technologies (DHT).Methods: A 4-week, cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospitalin Southern India. A 14-item, self-administered questionnaire was developed and validated (kappa > 0.74). Data were collected through an online survey of HCPs available at the study site. The survey included questions related to demographics, DHT usage, and attitudes and perceptions toward DHTs. Data are presented as n (%), and odds ratio at 95% confidence intervals were used to identify predictors.Results: Among 151 participants, the mean age was 28.19 ± 7.01 years, where [81 (53.64%)]were females. Most of them [78 (51.65%)] were doctors, followed by [45 (29.8%)], [15 (9.93%)], and [13 (8.61%)] were allied healthcare professionals, nurses, and pharmacists, respectively. [129 (85.43%)] of the participants were aware of the term “digital health technologies” and [65 (43.05%)] used DHTs such as smart watches, mHealth, etc. for their health monitoring. Approximately 77% of participants were willing to adopt DHTs in their practice. However, 64% of the participants were concerned about data privacy and security issues associated with the use of DHTs. The majority (81%) of them had never undergone any formal training on digital technology or artificial intelligence in healthcare, and approximately 48% of HCPs were not sure about the patients’ perspectives on whether they would accept DHTs if introduced into their healthcare services. Knowledge of DHTs (p=0.003), current use in practice (p = 0.012), perceived user-friendliness (p <0.001), and years of experience (p = 0.034) were significant predictors of willingness to adopt DHTs.Conclusion: Good perceptions and positive attitudes were observed among the participants. However, providing adequate training and support and alleviating apprehensions regarding privacy and security may help to increase the integration of DHTs in the healthcare domain.