Background: Digital health literacy is the use of information and communication technology to support health and health care. Digital health literacy is becoming increasingly important as individuals continue to seek medical advice from various web-based sources, especially social media, during the pandemics such as COVID-19. Objective: The study aimed to assess health professionals’ digital health literacy level and associated factors in Southwest Ethiopia in 2021. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January to April 2021 in Ethiopia. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 423 study participants among health professionals. SPSS (version 20) software was used for data entry and analysis. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the required data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between the digital health literacy skill and associated factors. Significance value was obtained at 95% CI and P<.05. Results: In total, 401 study subjects participated in the study. Overall, 43.6% (n=176) of respondents had high digital health literacy skills. High computer literacy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 4.43, 95% CI 2.34-5.67; P=.01); master’s degree and above (AOR 3.42, 95% CI 2.31-4.90; P=.02); internet use (AOR 4.00, 95% CI 1.78-4.02; P=.03); perceived ease of use (AOR 2.65, 95% CI 1.35-4.65; P=.04); monthly income of >15,000 Ethiopian birr (>US $283.68; AOR 7.55, 95% CI 6.43-9.44; P<.001); good knowledge of eHealth (AOR 2.22, 95% CI 1.32-4.03; P=.04); favorable attitudes (AOR 3.11, 95% CI 2.11-4.32; P=.04); and perceived usefulness (AOR 3.43, 95% CI 2.43-5.44; P=.02) were variables associated with eHealth literacy level. Conclusions: In general, less than half of the study participants had a high digital health literacy level. High computer literacy, master’s degree and above, frequent internet use, perceived ease to use, income of >15,000 Ethiopian birr (>US $283.68), good knowledge of digital health literacy, favorable attitude, and perceived usefulness were the most determinant factors in the study. Having high computer literacy, frequent use of internet, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, favorable attitude, and a high level of education will help to promote a high level of digital health literacy.

Background: Information in health care is rapidly expanding and is updated very regularly, especially with the increasing use of technology in the sector. Due to this, health care providers require timely access to the latest scientific evidence anywhere. Smartphone medical apps are tools to access the latest reputable scientific evidence in the discipline. In addition, smartphone medical apps could lead to improved decision making, reduced numbers of medical errors, and improved communication between hospital medical staff. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess smartphone medical app use and associated factors among physicians working at referral hospitals of the Amhara region, Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among physicians working at 5 referral hospitals in the Amhara region, Ethiopia, from February 5 to May 27, 2019. A simple random sampling method was used to select 423 physicians. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data and analyzed using SPSS, version 21 (IBM Corp). Binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess factors associated with smartphone medical app use among physicians. A value of P<.05, corresponding to a 95% CI, was considered statistically significant. The validity of the questionnaire was determined based on the view of experts and the reliability of it obtained by calculating the value of Cronbach alpha (α=.78) Results: In this study, most of the 417 respondents (375, 89.9%) had medical apps installed on their smartphones. Of those 375 respondents, 264 (70.4%) had used medical apps during clinical practice. The medical apps most commonly used by the respondents were UpToDate, Medscape, MedCalc, and Doximity. According to multivariable logistic regression analysis, attitude (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.64, 95% CI 1.05-2.55), internet access (AOR 2.82, 95% CI 1.75-4.54), computer training (AOR 1.71, 95% CI 1.09-2.67), perceived usefulness of the app (AOR 1.64, 95% CI 1.05-2.54), information technology support staff (AOR 2.363, 95% CI 1.5-3.08), and technical skill (AOR 2.52, 95% CI 1.50-4.25) were significantly associated with smartphone medical app use. Conclusions: Most respondents have a smartphone medical app and have used it in clinical practice. Attitude, internet access, computer training, perceived usefulness of the app, information technology support staff, and technical skill are the most notable factors that are associated with smartphone medical app use by physicians.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has prompted rapid restructuring of the health-care system in an effort to stop the spread of the pandemic. Thus, telemedicine is more preferable in order to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic when face to face meeting is forbidden, allowing provision of health service over a distance. This study aimed to assess willingness to use telemedicine and factors that will determine their extent of willingness during COIVID-19 among healthcare providers working in south west of Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study design was applied to assess willingness to use telemedicine among healthcare providers working at public health hospitals in south west of Ethiopia. Self-administered questionnaires were used. We have used Epi-info for data entry and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS) for analysis. A structural equation modeling was performed to identify factors associated with willingness to use telemedicine at 95% confidence interval (CI). In this study, less than half of respondents had high willingness to use telemedicine. Ease of use (β = 0.79, 95% CI: [0.72, 0.86], p < 0.01), attitude (β = 0.91, 95% CI: [0.87, 0.95], p < 0.01) and patient-physician relationships (β = 0.67, 95% CI: [0.54, 0.70], p < 0.01) were variables associated with willingness to use telemedicine. Anxiety towards technology (β = 0.74, 95% CI: [0.69, 0.79], p < 0.01) and patient-physician relationships (β = 0.87, 95% CI: [0.81, 0.92], p < 0.01) were determinant factors of attitude to use telemedicine. The overall willingness to use telemedicine during COVID-19 in this setting is 46.5%. Addressing the problem related with ease of use, attitude and patient-physician relationships will help to increase the overall willingness to use telemedicine during COVID-19. An attempt to improving patient-physician relationship, provision of technical training for ease of use and working on healthcare providers’ attitude will help to improve the willingness to use telemedicine.

Background. Electronic medical record (EMR) systems offer the potential to improve health care quality by allowing physicians real‐time access to patient healthcare information. The endorsement and usage of EMRs by physicians have a significant influence on other user groups in the healthcare system. As a result, the purpose of this study was to examine physicians’ attitudes regarding EMRs and identify the elements that may influence their attitudes. Method. An institutional‐based cross‐sectional study design supplemented with a qualitative study was conducted from March 1 to April 30, 2018, among a total of 403 physicians. A self‐administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. The validity of the prediction bounds for the dependent variable and the validity of the confidence intervals and P values for the parameters were measured with a value of less than 0.05 and 95 percent of confidence interval. For the supplementary qualitative study, data were collected using semistructured in‐depth interviews from 11 key informants, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Result. Physicians’ computer literacy (CI: 0.264, 0.713; P: 0001) and computer access at work (CI: 0.141, 0.533, P: 0.001) were shown to be favorable predictors of their attitude towards EMR system adoption. Another conclusion from this study was the inverse relationship between physicians’ prior EMR experience and their attitude about the system (CI: ‐0.517, ‐0.121; P: 0.002). Conclusion. According to the findings of this study, physicians’ attitudes regarding EMR were found moderate in the studied region. There was a favorable relationship between computer ownership, computer literacy, lack of EMR experience, participation in EMR training, and attitude towards EMR. Improving the aforementioned elements is critical to improving physicians’ attitudes regarding EMR.

Despite advances in information technology, the adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) in healthcare remains limited, and usage rates are still low. Understanding the current utilization of EMR systems in private health facilities is crucial for guiding future digital health integration, enhancing interoperability, and building the capacity of the health workforce. However, the use of EMR systems in private hospitals in the Amhara region has not been well documented. This study therefore aimed to assess the utilization of EMR systems and identify associated factors among health professionals working in private hospitals in Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 13 to March 20, 2023, among 367 health professionals. Participants were selected through simple random sampling using computer-generated numbers from hospital-specific sampling frames via Open Epi software. Bivariate logistic regression was first performed, and variables with p < 0.25 were included in the multivariable analysis. Associations were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. A total of 351 respondents participated, yielding a response rate of 95.6%. Overall, 45.3% (95% CI: 41–50%) of health professionals reported utilizing the EMR system. Factors significantly associated with EMR utilization included access to basic EMR training (AOR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.04–4.72), overall satisfaction of health care providers (AOR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.39–6.09), and a user-friendly EMR interface (AOR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.12–4.13). The utilization of EMR systems by healthcare professionals in private health facilities was found to be suboptimal. Key factors influencing EMR use included lack of access to training, user satisfaction, and the system’s interface usability. EMRs have the potential to improve health service performance if supported by continuous technical assistance and commitment to optimize their use. Developing EMR software tailored to local needs and conditions, along with sustained efforts to address barriers, is essential to ensure widespread and effective adoption and to fully realize the benefits of digital health records.

Electronic consultation is a means of communication with clients using different types of electronic devices at distance. However, health professionals’ perception towards the e-consultation is not well addressed. This study aimed to explore health workers’ perception on e-consultation to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic at the University of Gondar specialized hospital. A qualitative study was undertaken to explore health workers’ perception on e-consultation to tackle COVID-19 pandemic. Eight health-care workers were purposively selected from the University of Gondar specialized hospital. Medical doctors, nurses, medical laboratory professionals and public health officers were selected as key informants for in-depth interview. A thematic analysis was carried out. The analysis was performed with four identified themes, namely e-consultation benefit, technical skill, barriers of e-consultation and facilitators of e-consultation. All the respondents were aware of e-consultation service as a solution in the health-care system to tackle the spread of pandemic. Some had the experience of reminding their clients to take drugs by using their mobile phone. They also expressed their feelings that using e-consultation would have an impact on health professional and client satisfaction by reducing the fear of transmission of the pandemic. Health workers believe that e-consultation solutions can reduce the spread of the pandemic at the point of service delivery. Technical skills, organizational setup and information technology-related factors were major contributing ones. Health professionals’ perception could not be a problem in implementing e-consultation service to tackle the spread of the pandemic.