BACKGROUND
Telepathology has proven to be a viable solution to provide timely, high-quality diagnostic services to underserviced, remote areas, and is widely applied in the word. The government strongly supports the development of telepathology to alleviate the shortage of pathologists in China. This study aimed to survey telepathology in China, and analyze the usage and attitudes of both pathologists and patient.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to analyze the construction, application, and development of telepathology in China from 2018 to 2023, understand the usage, evaluation, and attitudes of pathologists and patients towards telepathology, and analyze the existing problems and improvement suggestions in the application of telepathology.
METHODS
A national survey was administered to Chinese hospitals in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023. A survey to doctors and patients who participated in telemedicine services was conducted in 2019. Based on this data, we analyze telepathology in China. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact probability test were used to test the difference among different years, different levels of hospitals, and different regions.
RESULTS
The annual average growth rate of the proportion of telepathology software in the surveyed hospitals was 7.60%, from 29.53% in 2018 to 42.55% in 2023. From 2018 to 2023, the number of telepathology service cases in China has been continuously increasing, with the median number per hospital growing from 51 to 200 cases, and the fastest growth was in the eastern region. Once a week was the dominant frequency(63.64%) among pathologists in China. The average time for participating in telepathology services was mainly 11-20 min and 21-30min. The pathologists' overall satisfaction rate was 99.35%, and the most frequently mentioned difficulties were unreasonable scheduling, small coverage, inadequate publicity, and network problems. 92.20% of the patients received their diagnostic results within 24 hours, all patients were satisfied with telepathology, and 99.29% of them were willing to recommend it to other patients.
CONCLUSIONS
The construction and application of telepathology in China have achieved significant growth from 2018 to 2023. Despite some existing barriers with its application, both pathologists and patients exhibit high satisfaction with telepathology. Unreasonable scheduling, limited coverage, inadequate publicity, and network issues are the main problems affecting telepathology. Recommendations include expanding service methods, shortening wait times, strengthening publicity, incorporating telepathology fees into medical insurance, and enhancing training for primary healthcare personnel.