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The potential of eHealth in otorhinolaryngology—head and neck surgery: patients’ perspectives

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A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 13 June 2017

Abstract

The use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT) in daily life has significantly increased during the last several years. These essential online technologies have also found their way into the healthcare system. The use of modern ICT for health reasons can be summarized by the term ‘eHealth’. Despite the potential importance of eHealth in the field of otorhinolaryngology (ORL), there is little understanding of patients’ attitudes towards the deeper integration of these technologies into intersectoral care. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of patients’ attitudes towards the use of modern ICT for intersectoral communication and information transfer in the field of ORL. Therefore, a structured interview was developed by an interdisciplinary team of otorhinolaryngologists, public health researchers, and information technology (IT) specialists. Overall, 211 ORL patients were interviewed at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tuebingen University Hospital, Germany, and 203 of these patients completed the interview. This study revealed ORL patients’ perspectives on the potential of eHealth, especially for appointment scheduling, appointment reminders, and intersectoral communication of personal medical information. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that data security and the impacts of eHealth on the physician–patient relationship and on treatment quality warrant special attention in future research.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Marc Biesinger for his contribution to the data collection and Ansgar Hoeper for his contribution to drafting the statistical results for the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Martin Holderried.

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Ethical standards

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty and University Hospital of Tuebingen, Germany.

Funding

There is no funding associated with this study.

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All authors certify that they have no conflict of interest and no affiliations with any financial interest or non-financial interest regarding the subject of this manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty and University Hospital of Tuebingen, Germany.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Holderried, M., Ernst, C., Holderried, F. et al. The potential of eHealth in otorhinolaryngology—head and neck surgery: patients’ perspectives. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 274, 2933–2943 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-017-4567-y

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