Veterinarians’ Perceptions about Information and Communication Technologies and Telemedicine in Clinical Practice Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract Background: With advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), the transfer of animal health data has increased in volume and velocity. These technologies empower animal owners to access health data and connect with veterinarians remotely. However, the landscape of ICT use and telemedicine continues to evolve, including changes in technologies, definitions, and regulatory frameworks that were accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic but remain insufficiently documented. Therefore, the overall goal was to explore veterinarians' use of and attitudes toward telemedicine and specific ICTs in clinical settings during the pre-COVID and COVID-era. Methods: Two anonymous online questionnaires were distributed using snowball sampling. Descriptive and comparative analysis was performed using logistic regression, multinomial regression, and Fisher’s exact test. Results: A total of 205 pre-COVID and 133 COVID-era veterinarians, predominantly from the United States and Canada, who provided care to client-owned animals were included. There was no clear evidence of a difference in telemedicine use between pre-COVID and COVID-era respondents (RRR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.65–1.97). However, COVID-era respondents were more likely than pre-COVID respondents to use telephone/voice (OR = 7.11, 95% CI = 1.36–37.2) and live video chats (OR = 3.42, 95% CI = 1.33–8.8) to interact with clients. They were also more likely to bill for remote communications (RRR = 12.18, 95% CI = 3.87–38.37) and to consider ICTs suitable for triage (OR = 4.67, 95% CI = 1.98–11.02), diagnosis (OR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.62–4.59), and prescriptions (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.27–5.01). However, many were still reluctant to rely fully on ICTs, especially when used to perform diagnosis, which had the highest percentage of respondents opposed to ICT use (45%). Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, participating veterinarians have had higher utilization of different ICTs with clients than the pre-COVID participants, were more likely to bill for these interactions, and are more comfortable using ICTs for a variety of clinical tasks (assuming a VCPR was established and legal). However, many still did not label forms of ICT use as telemedicine and were generally hesitant to charge for such services.