Knowledge and Attitudes Related to Telemedicine among Nursing Staff at the Selected Tertiary Care Hospital, Karnataka, India

Introduction: Nurses’ understanding and perceptions of telemedicine are vital, as they are frequently the main users and implementers of these technologies in healthcare environments. With strong knowledge of telemedicine, nurses can utilize it effectively to enhance patient outcomes, optimize workflows, and ease pressure on healthcare resources. Moreover, positive attitudes among nurses can significantly boost adoption rates, as they are more inclined to support and champion telemedicine when they recognize its advantages for patient care and their own professional routines. Methodology: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 201 staff nurses. The data were collected using a self-structured questionnaire after thorough review of the literature. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the characteristics of the participants. Results: This study investigated the demographics, knowledge, and attitudes of healthcare participants toward telemedicine, focusing on staff readiness for its adoption. Most respondents were female (67.2%), young adults (86.6%), and bachelor’s degree holders (52.7%) and identified as middle class (73.6%). Telemedicine awareness was high (89.1%), though fewer participants understood its infrastructure (50.7%). Knowledge varied by gender, experience, and income, with males and those with greater experience or income scoring higher. Attitudes were mostly positive, especially about telemedicine’s impact on workload and error reduction, though 64.6% expressed data privacy concerns. These results highlight the importance of targeted training to bridge knowledge gaps and address privacy concerns, supporting broader telemedicine adoption in health care. Conclusion: While telemedicine is a relatively new and developing practice in many countries, it shows strong potential to enhance healthcare services. This is especially valuable during pandemics, as it enables effective health care while supporting social distancing. Additionally, participants in this study demonstrated solid knowledge and a positive attitude toward telemedicine.