Telemedicine ready or not? A cross-sectional assessment of telemedicine maturity of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria
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Date
2023-01-01
Authors
Olufunlayo, TF
Ojo, OO
Ozoh, OB
Agabi, OP
Opara, CR
Taiwo, FT
Fasanmade OA
Okubadejo NU
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Sage Journals
Abstract
Introduction and objective: Telemedicine has reinforced its position as a means for the continuity of healthcare services and
a cost-effective approach to improving health equity as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The preparedness of
health systems for telemedicine is an indicator of the scalability of their services, especially during catastrophes. We aimed to
assess the maturity and preparedness of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria, to deploy telemedicine as
such data are currently lacking and are required to drive improvements in health services delivery.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of thirty randomly selected federally funded tertiary health institutions in
Nigeria using the Pan American Health Organization’s tool for assessing the maturity level of health institutions to implement
telemedicine between 17 September 2020 and 1 September 2021. Descriptive statistics were used for overall maturity levels
and non-parametric tests to compare scores for overall maturity and specific Pan American Health Organization domains per
region. The level of significance was set at p-value <0.05.
Results: The response rate was 77.4% (24 of 30 randomly polled federally funded tertiary health institutions responded).
Overall, the median telemedicine maturity level was 2.0 (1.75) indicating a beginner level. No significant inter-zonal difference in the median overall maturity level (p =0.87). The median maturity levels for telemedicine readiness in specific
domains were organizational readiness – 2.0 (2.0), processes 1.0 (1.0), digital environment 2.0 (3.0), human resources
2.0 (1.0), regulatory issues – 1.5 (1.0) and expertise 2.0 (2.0); mostly at beginner level, with no inter-zonal differences.
Most participating institutions had no initiatives in place for domains of processes and regulatory issues.
Conclusions: The current telemedicine maturity level of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria is at the beginner
level. This behoves policy-makers to advance the implementation and deployment of telemedicine nationwide as part of digital
quality healthcare, to improve health equity and to ensure continuity of healthcare services in the event of another pandemic
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Olufunlayo TF, Ojo OO, Ozoh OB, Agabi OP, Opara CR, Taiwo FT, Fasanmade OA, Okubadejo NU. Telemedicine ready or not? A cross-sectional assessment of telemedicine maturity of federally funded tertiary health institutions in Nigeria. Digit Health. 2023 Jan 3;9:20552076221150072. doi: 10.1177/20552076221150072. PMID: 36636728; PMCID: PMC9829877.