Telestroke: beliefs, expectations and perceived barriers among community people residing in Siddharthanagar, Bhairahawa, Nepal

Abstract

Introduction: Telestroke is often used for medical consultations in rural areas. The acceptance and utilization of this service in the community can be a useful means to combat stroke associated morbidity and mortality. Therefore, we aimed to study the beliefs, expectations and perceived barriers regarding telestroke among people residing Siddharthanagar Municipality.

Materials and methods: A cross–sectional study was conducted among 100 participants from the community of Siddharthanagar Municipality, Bhairahawa in order to explore the beliefs, expectations and perceived barriers regarding telestroke. A semi–structured interview schedule was used to collect the information from each member of the family. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM–SPSS version 20.0.

Results: Of total 100 respondents, majority were male (57%) and were educated up to grade–X (61%). The age ranged from 16 to 76 years and majority were between 21 to 40 years (44%). Almost all of them had heard about stroke (98%) even though majority (93%) did not have a family history of stroke. Ninety percent were known to use internet for >1 hour daily while almost 80% had heard about telemedicine or telestroke. More than half (56%) of the respondents strongly agreed that telestroke improve the diagnosis and treatment of acute stroke. Almost half (48%) of them believed that telestroke would be useful in research of emerging stroke medication and also be useful in physician and community stroke education.

Conclusion: Our study reflects that the community of Siddharthanagar are concerned about telestroke and its implementation for the improvement of acute stroke care.