How to promote telemedicine in underdeveloped cities in central China? Qualitative interviews with medical personnel in tertiary A-level hospital of Xinyang City

Background Telemedicine has emerged as a novel healthcare service model that plays a vital role in addressing the unequal distribution of medical resources. Telemedicine has recently gained significant traction in economically prosperous cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in China. However, Xinyang City in Henan Province is an economically less developed city, and telemedicine is still in its early stages. By exploring the views of medical staff and administrators at Xinyang City's tertiary A-level hospital on telemedicine, this study aims to determine the development status of telemedicine services in Xinyang City. The objective was to identify the challenges in the construction process and formulate corresponding strategies for advancing telemedicine in Xinyang City. Methods Face-to-face personal interviews were conducted with 16 medical staff and administrators from a tertiary A-level hospital in Xinyang City, Henan Province, and the data were collected and analyzed using grounded theory. In the process of data analysis, NVivo12 software was used to encode and organize the data line by line. Results The development of telemedicine in Xinyang City has the potential to benefit residents, hospitals, and healthcare personnel despite several challenges, including the absence of laws and regulations, inadequate policy support, limited hospital cooperation, and low resident awareness, which must be addressed to unlock the full potential of telemedicine. Conclusion The telemedicine system in Xinyang City is currently in a coordinated developmental phase, and several areas require further improvement. The development of standardized telemedicine in Xinyang City requires government support, better training for general practitioners, public awareness campaigns, and improved technology while ensuring reasonable work schedules and motivating medical personnel.