NTWC Allied Health (AH) clinical service is greatly affected under the Covid-19 pandemics. Therefore, the application of telecare service in Allied Health is catalyzed in order to cope with the service gap during the pandemics. The development of telemedicine of NTWC AH based on three objectives, namely filling up service gap, creation of virtual space and facilitation of health care equity. 7 pilot telecare programs were successfully piloted in NTWC AH departments. However, the suitability of this telecare service after the resumption of the normal service is a great challenge.
Different telecare provision, e.g. telephone follow up, hybrid mode of teleconsultation with face-to-face consultation, virtual home visit for post discharge patients, were piloted. Programs evaluation and a care-giver focus group were conducted for reviewing the program effectiveness, patients’ acceptance and comment on telecare service. Positive clinical outcome was revealed in most of the programs. Moreover, positive feedback was obtained from patients and care-givers in the post program satisfaction surveys. Detail user opinions were collected from the care-giver focus group interview on 15 Dec 2020. The program limitation, benefits and desirable telecare service model were discussed during the focus group. However, the long-term success and sustainability of the telecare service is not guaranteed because of the success of the pilot programs. According to the technology acceptance model, there are different factors influencing the success of the adopting a new technology. The perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, self-identity, individual characteristic that can affect the behavior intention of using the new technology in both of patient and health care providers. The behavior intention brings significant influence to the actual application of new technology.
The determinants that facilitate users having positive acceptance and adoption of new technology should be considered during the telemedicine service development in order to establish a sustainable new service model.
