Effects of an awareness symposium on perception of Libyan physicians regarding telemedicine.

The awareness of health care providers, particularly physicians, towards telemedicine is pivotal to its development. In this study we distributed questionnaires among Libyan physicians attending a medical symposium on telemedicine, held in the period 28 February–1 March, 2005. The sample comprised 28 males and 13 females from different specialties and from different parts of the country. Most reported being confused (53.7%) or unaware (14.6%) regarding telemedicine before the symposium. Afterwards, 12.2% were confused, 39.0% showed excellent understanding and 48.8% reported fair understanding; 97.6% supported the implementation of telemedicine in the country and appreciated the importance of establishing remote health services. Effets d’un colloque de sensibilisation sur la perception de la telemedecine par les medecins libyens RESUME La sensibilisation des prestataires de soins de sante a la telemedecine, en particulier celle des medecins, joue un role essentiel dans le developpement de cette pratique. Pour cette etude, nous avons distribue des questionnaires a des medecins libyens qui participaient a un colloque medical sur la telemedecine organise du 28 fevrier au 1er mars 2005. L’echantillon etait constitue de 28 hommes et de 13 femmes representant differentes specialites et venant de differentes parties du pays. Avant le colloque, la plupart d’entre eux declaraient ne pas savoir quoi penser (53,7 %) ou ne rien savoir (14,6 %) de la telemedecine. Apres, 12,2 % restaient perplexes, 39,0 % avaient d’excellentes connaissances sur cette pratique et 48,8 % disaient en avoir une bonne comprehension ; 97,6 % soutenaient sa mise en place dans le pays et estimaient important de creer des services de sante a distance. 1Department of Surgery and Cardiovascular Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Omar Al-Mokhtar University, Tobruk, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Correspondence to A.M. El-Gatit: drelgatit@yahoo.co.uk, abdul2309@hotmail. com, abdusalam@elgatit.net). 2Department of Telemedicine, Libyan General Medical Council, Tripoli, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. 3Misurata Teaching Hospital, Misurata, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Received:20/07/05; accepted: 12/04/06