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Comparison of the use of telemedicine and ehealth in ecuador by geographic region

Abstract:

Introduction: Telemedicine in Ecuador is experiencing significant growth in recent years, but requires further study. Objective: This study aimed to compare the use of telemedicine and digital health in Ecuador, focusing on three geographic regions: Sierra, Amazon and Coast. Methods: Stratified sampling was conducted, dividing Ecuador into three regions:Sierra, Amazon and Coast. The study population consisted of 120 subjects distributed equally among 40 people from each region. It was hypothesised that the use of telemedicine and digital health was different according to the geographical region of Ecuador. Structured interviews were used as a technique for data collection. The Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA statistic was used and Tukey's test was used as a post hoc test. Results: The Kruskal-Wallis test result represented a value of 18.056, with a p-value <0.001. There was significant difference in the perception of the use of telemedicine and digital health between the Sierra and Costa regions (p = 0.05), where the mean difference was-0.35; between the Costa and Amazon regions there was a significant difference (p = 0.00 and mean difference of 0.67); as well as between the Amazon and Sierra regions (p = 0.07 and mean difference of-0.33). Conclusions: With a probability of error 0.001 % (p-value = 0.000120) the use of telemedicine and digital health was different according to the geographical region of Ecuador.