Acceptance of telemedicine among care personnel in inpatient and outpatient elderly care: a systematic review

Abstract Background Healthcare systems face substantial challenges due to the growing number of elderly people in need of care and the shortage of nursing staff. As a result, it is difficult to provide timely and appropriate healthcare. One potential solution could be the use of telemedicine. However, care personnel’s acceptance of the use of telemedicine is often a challenge. The aim of this systematic review is to determine the status quo of acceptance of telemedicine, provide an overview of motivators and barriers associated with the use of telemedicine, and identify factors predicting acceptance of telemedicine among care personnel working in elderly care. Methods An electronic search was conducted in MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and Embase, supplemented by a hand search. Articles were identified based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Study characteristics and relevant results were extracted. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Quality Assessment with Diverse Studies tool. Results A total of 16 studies were considered eligible for inclusion. Overall, the included studies highlighted positive attitudes of care personnel towards telemedical applications in inpatient and outpatient elderly care, but also showed some critical views and ambivalent opinions about these types of care. As part of that, several motivators and barriers concerning telemedicine were identified. Motivators and barriers referred to general, organizational, personnel-related, patient-related, family-related, and technology-related aspects. Notably, there were more motivators than barriers in all included studies taken together. Few studies investigated factors influencing care personnel’s acceptance of telemedicine in depth, although there is some evidence that demographic characteristics impact the acceptance of telemedical applications. Conclusions The results of this systematic review indicate that the acceptance of telemedicine among care personnel is positive overall. A range of motivators has been identified, highlighting the perceived potential of telemedicine to meet current challenges in elderly care. However, some challenges remain. In order to realize the full potential of telemedicine in elderly care, it is necessary to address the identified barriers.