“The Use Of Information And Communication Technologies In Latinamerican Dentists: A Cross-Sectional Study”

Abstract

Objectives: The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) allows people to communicate in "real-time". The popularity of these tools has created a need for healthcare providers to have an online presence and interact with their patients via an increasing number of channels. The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency of use, perceptions, and barriers of ICTs among Ecuadorian dentists. Methods: An anonymous, cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among 342 Ecuadorian dentists. The questionnaire included 13 items related to the frequency of use, perceptions and barriers of ICTs among dentists.Results: Almost all participants reported communicating with colleagues (99.7%) and with patients (96.2%) using ICTs. In contrast, academic information searching was the least used application, with 36.5% (n = 125) of respondents indicating no ICT use for this purpose. WhatsApp was overall the most used ICT with 97.4% of participants using it to contact colleagues and 93.6% to contact patients. Similarly, Facebook was used by 88.0% (n = 301) of dentists to interact with colleagues while 67.8% did so with patients. More than 90% (n = 308) of dentists perceived that ICTs are useful for health and service promotion, getting involved in research projects, solving daily clinical cases, working in groups and finding new job opportunities. Regarding barriers, privacy was the biggest concern among dentists, with 65.2% (n = 223) agreeing that it is an issue concerning ICT use. The second most frequent barrier was time, with 48% (n = 164) of respondents considering not having enough time to use ICTs.Conclusions: We found that Ecuadorian dentists had high usage of ICTs, mainly for communication among professionals and communication with their patients. Academic information searching remains a comparatively underused application of these tools. Most participants had a positive perception of ICTs in the dentistry practice, particularly younger dentists. Furthermore, dentists had a positive perception of ICTs. Finally, privacy remains the main barrier for ICT adoption according to our survey.