title: Clinicians' Knowledge and Perception of Telemedicine Technology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Telemedicine is an application of information and communication technology in the healthcare environment. This study aimed to compare knowledge and perceptions of telemedicine technology among different groups of clinicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  This survey study was conducted in 2013. The potential participants included 532 clinicians who worked in two hospitals and three clinics in a northern province of Iran. Data were collected using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire. The content validity of the questionnaire was checked, and the reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.73).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that most of the clinicians (96.1 percent) had little knowledge about telemedicine. They perceived the advantages of telemedicine at a moderate level and its disadvantages at a low level. The knowledge of dentists about this technology was less than that of other groups, and as a result they were less positive about the advantages of telemedicine compared to nurses, general physicians, and specialists.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The limited knowledge of clinicians about telemedicine seems to have influenced their perceptions of the technology. Therefore, providing healthcare professionals with more information about new technologies in healthcare, such as telemedicine, can help to gain a more realistic picture of their perceptions.
authors.affiliation: Haleh Ayatollahi, MSc, PhD, is an assistant professor of medical informatics at the Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Haleh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ayatollahi
authors.affiliation: Fatemeh Zahra Pourfard Sarabi, MSc, is a medical records administrator at Sarab Health Center in Sarab, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh Zahra Pourfard
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Sarabi
authors.affiliation: Mostafa Langarizadeh, MSc, PhD, is an assistant professor of medical informatics at the Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Langarizadeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D019359:Knowledge; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*
keywords: clinicians; perception; telemedicine