Barriers and motivations of patients living in Mayotte to the use of teleconsultation in general medicine

Jessica Dumez, Andree Pauget, Damien Gineste, Elhad Mohamadi

Keywords: telehealth, general practice, qualitative study, Mayotte

Background:

Mayotte is still very marked by its traditional culture and its magical-religious beliefs. Dealing with many socio-economic difficulties, its health care system facing lots of constraints, especially a lack of general practitioners, the island is also a pioneer in telemedicine.

Research questions:

The objective of this study was to explore the barriers and motivations of patients living in Mayotte using telemedicine in general practice. The secondary objective was to determine if augmented-assisted telemedicine could deal with important concerns and expectations.

Method:

Qualitative study by Grounded Theory based on interviews with people daily living in Mayotte until data saturation. The following method was conducted : Verbatim categorization, coding triangulation, integration, modeling, and data theorizing. This study, based on interviews with patients using qualitative method, does not require approval from the Committee for the Protection of Persons (CPP)

Results:

Among the twenty-five individuals surveyed, there were thirteen men and twelve women. The participants ranged in age from 19 to 73 years, with an average age of 43 years. Only 20 patients were affiliated with social security, and half of them had a chronic illness. Many patients were unaware of this possibility. They feared loss of information due to lack of physical examination, were skeptical due to uneven network coverage or language barrier. They saw some interest in reducing appointment delays, especially for benign diseases or in getting a first opinion. They also saw the possibility of emancipating themselves from geographical barriers and were reassured by the augmented and assisted version proposed in Mayotte.

Conclusions:

The augmented-assisted telemedicine in general medicine offers adapted answers to promote access to care in Mayotte by reassuring the patients about their main fears to the use of telemedicine. Yet this technology will never replace the doctor in person, there is a certain pride in this territory to be a pioneer.

Points for discussion:

#80