Introduction

Several telemedicine initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa have been established, including the Fundamental of Modern Telemedicine for Africa (FOMTA), the Pan-African e-Network Project, and the Réseauen Afrique Francophone pour la Telemedicine (RAFT) [1]. FOMTA’s primary goal is to foster the creation of regional networks connecting research and development centers in developing countries, along with their respective universities, linking them to European countries. Utilizing broadband technology, specifically Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN), the project aims to facilitate collaboration between developing nations for the generation of new knowledge and the development of innovative and suitable technologies. The ultimate aim of FOMTA is to address unmet healthcare needs and contribute to sustainable economic development in the region [1, 2]

In summary, technological advancements have propelled medical science into a new era, fostering more precise, accessible, and efficient healthcare services while driving innovation in research, diagnostics, and treatment modalities [3].

Telehealth serves to bridge gaps in healthcare access, particularly in underserved or remote areas. It enhances convenience for patients, reduces healthcare costs, and improves the overall efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery [1, 2, 4]. This comprehensive term encompasses various modalities, including telemedicine, teleconsultation, mHealth, and tele monitoring [5, 6]. Telemedicine refers to the utilization of electronic information and communication technologies to deliver clinical services when patients are located at distant locations [7, 8]. ‘‘mHealth is a term derived from telehealth, more specifically from telemedicine [9], and is defined as the ’medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient-monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other wireless devices [10].” Telemedicine relies on mHealth applications for supporting effective interaction between healthcare providers and patients [11].

Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) is creating a national e-health plan that will include cutting-edge technologies that shift the health industry, advance scientific knowledge of health-related issues, and improve communication between patients and healthcare providers [12]. Innovative technologies like telemedicine affect both the advancement of medical care and the way of delivering healthcare services [13]. Telemedicine is the use of electronic and information communication technologies to provide a virtual environment that enables remote interaction between healthcare professionals and their patients, and/or among healthcare professionals themselves [6, 14]. Telemedicine plays a significant role in patient-centered healthcare delivery in the diagnosis, and management of chronic diseases and future treatment plane [2, 15].

Telemedicine can make a substantial contribution to the health sector by enabling mainly three applications such like real-time communication between healthcare professionals and patients via video conferences, Store and forward meaning sharing video, voice, image, data, and other medical information with physicians across a distance, and remote patient monitoring which enables medical professionals to monitor a patient remotely using various technological devices [12]. According to a study conducted in hospitals of the north Gondar administrative zone, North West Ethiopia, the proportion of health professional’s knowledge of telemedicine was limited [16]. On the contrary, a study conducted on referral hospitals of the Amhara region, North West Ethiopia indicates that the proportion of health professional’s knowledge of telemedicine is sufficient but not enough [14, 17]. Studies found that having IT support staff, Socio-demographic factors (gender, residence), Internet availability in the workplace, information sharing culture, computer training, and computer literacy skills are interlinked to knowledge of telemedicine [14, 18–20].

While numerous publications explore the understanding of telemedicine among individuals in both private and public health facilities, our extensive search reveals a lack of a comprehensive systematic review on knowledge about telemedicine and its associated factors in Ethiopia. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review is to ascertain the aggregated level of individual knowledge regarding telemedicine and to identify pertinent influencing factors. The findings of this systematic review aim to provide insights into the overall proportion of individuals’ knowledge of telemedicine in Ethiopia. Furthermore, our findings can be valuable for health managers, policymakers, and planners, aiding them in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the collective knowledge of individuals regarding telemedicine in Ethiopia. Additionally, this information may aid them in implementing electronic telemedicine-related information sources and overcoming challenges associated with the adoption of new technology. The outcomes of this study will also support patients, students, and healthcare providers in developing targeted interventions to enhance their understanding of telemedicine.

Methods

Result

Discussion

This study used a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the TM knowledge of Ethiopian healthcare providers. According to our study, healthcare workers’ overall TM knowledge was 45.20 (95% CI: 34.87–55.53). Compared to research done in Australia (60%) [22], Saudi Arabia (54.9%)(8), Nepal(77.4%) [23], Sri Lanka (76.4%) [24], the current meta-analysis was less extensive. The context of the study, the backgrounds of the participants, or the variations in the infrastructure of information and communication technology across the countries could all be contributing factors to this variation. Furthermore, Ethiopia is developing emerging technologies at a modest level. However, the system was already in use when those nations were being studied. The outcome of using alternative instruments, a different time frame for the study, or an alternative sample strategy. Furthermore, the everyday exposure of medical practitioners to the global digital environment may have a greater role. This investigation is more extensive than the one conducted in Nigeria [25]. According to this study, healthcare workers with prior computer experience were more likely than those without to have a solid understanding of TM [2, 26]. Bolstered by the notion that computer training will contribute to an increase in TM compared to health professionals without computer access, those with access to one were more likely to be well-versed in telemedicine [26, 27]. This might involve computer access to help medical professionals learn more TM compared to health professionals without access to social media, those with social media usage were more likely to be well-versed in telemedicine [26, 28]. Access to social media promotes knowledge TM compared to health professionals who were uninformed of telemedicine, those who were aware of it were more likely to have a solid knowledge of it [17, 29]. This might be conscious of nearly knowing about TM. Compared to health professionals with inadequate management assistance, those with strong management support were more likely to be well-versed in telemedicine [12]. The fact that management provides support for knowledge transfer Compared to health professionals without personal computers, those with computers were more likely to be well-versed in telemedicine [6, 26, 27]. The fact that some owned computers are being used for internet access may serve as evidence for this. Compared to health professionals with low computer literacy, those with higher literacy were more likely to be well-versed in telemedicine [6, 15, 27]. This may be corroborated by the observation that computer-literate people will find it easier to learn about telemedicine. Compared to health professionals without telemedicine training, those with telemedicine training were more likely to have solid telemedicine expertise [6, 13, 30]. When compared to health professionals without computer accessibility, those with it were more likely to be well-versed in telemedicine [16, 27]. Compared to health professionals with lower educational levels, those with higher education levels were more likely to have solid knowledge of telemedicine [31, 32]. Compared to female health professionals, male health professionals were more likely to have solid telemedicine expertise [33, 34]. This might have to do with the fact that male health professionals have greater positions inside the company and can thus access new technologies and training.

Strengths and limitations of the study

A meta-analysis of studies from different regions of Ethiopia provides a summary of the state of telemedicine in the country. Understanding this will be useful for medical and educational institutions, government and health professionals in resource-constrained situations. This study has some drawbacks, the main among which most of the researched articles were cross-sectional study, indeed.

Conclusion

According to the study, the majority of medical practitioners knew very little about telemedicine. For this reason, the Ethiopian government should prioritize providing management assistance, computer and internet access, and training in telemedicine.

Supporting information

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the authors of the original papers that were incorporated and utilized as a source of data for this systematic review and meta-analysis.