BACKGROUND
Telemedicine is a system using telecommunication technologies to diagnose, treat, and monitor patients by healthcare physicians and specialists in many developing countries such as Kuwait. Telemedicine services have proven to be successful in reporting and tracking patient records, delivering, real time monitoring, providing correct medications, and early detection of clinical decline. Covid-19 pandemic period have reinforced telemedicine system’s benefits even more in Kuwait.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to investigate factors influencing patients’ continuance intention to use telemedicine after the COVID-19 pandemic in the medical sector of Kuwait.
METHODS
The updated Delone and Maclean (2003) model was utilized to investigate the aforementioned factors. As such, this research applied quantitative research methods with a sample of 290 participants from patients in Dar Al Shifa Hospital, a private hospital in Kuwait which utilizes telemedical services called ‘Sehaty online’. The corresponding data was analyzed using SmartPLS.
RESULTS
The findings of this study revealed that the relationship of both telemedicine’s information quality and system quality with patient’s satisfaction are significant with (β = 0.377, t = 5.612, P < 0.001), (β = 0.295, t = 4.397, P < 0.001) respectively. While the relationship of service quality and patient’s satisfaction is not significant with (β = -0.056, t = 0.894, P > 0.05). patient’s satisfaction relationship with patients’ continuance intention to use telemedicine found to be significant with (β = 0.403, t = 8.732, P < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
It has been concluded that information quality and system quality have a positive and significant influence on patient’s satisfaction, whereas service quality has an insignificant influence on patient’s satisfaction. Also, patients’ continuance intention to use telemedicine is found to be significantly impacted by their satisfaction.
