Comparison of Telehealth Readiness Assessment among Healthcare Professionals Working in Public and Private Hospitals at Peshawar, Pakistan A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

Comparison of Telehealth Readiness Assessment among Healthcare Professionals Working in Public and Private Hospitals at Peshawar, Pakistan; A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Comparison of Telehealth Readiness Assessment among Healthcare Professionals Working in Public and Private Hospitals at Peshawar, Pakistan; A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study Fazal Khaliq, Shahzad Bashir, Saleema Gulzar, Santosh Kumar This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v3 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Background : Telehealth, referred to as telemedicine or e-health, is the provision of medical services remotely using a telecommunications network enabling medical professionals to assess, diagnose, and treat patients without having to see them in person. Moreover, telehealth is extremely important in low-income nations like Pakistan, where the percentage of the population living in rural areas is estimated by the World Bank to be 63%, compared to 37% in urban areas (Bilal et al., 2022). However, healthcare professionals’ readiness assessment for using telehealth plays a vital role in the successful implementation of telehealth services in the healthcare system. Methods and Material: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in the public and private Hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. A total of 305 healthcare professionals were selected through a convenience sampling technique. The data were entered and analyzed through the SPSS version 26. A validated and reliable tool with Cronbach’s alpha 0.91 was used. Data were presented in frequency and percentages for categorical variables, whereas; Mean and Standard Deviation for the continuous variables. Moreover, an ANOVA test was applied to compare the mean difference in telehealth readiness, a Chi-square for the association among healthcare professionals for the use of telehealth. Independent sample T-test was also applied to compare the telehealth readiness score in public and private Hospitals. Results: There was a significant difference found in the Telehealth Readiness Scores of Healthcare Professionals concerning utilizing telehealth in their practice (p-value 0.003). Moreover, there was no significant difference found in the Telehealth Readiness Scores of Healthcare Professionals concerning their gender, age, working sector, experience, and current job title. Conclusion: The present study revealed that nurses and medical laboratory technologists were more ready for telehealth care than doctors and pharmacists. A significant association were between participants' professions and their telehealth readiness scores. Telehealth Telemedicine Telehealth readiness Tele-pharmacy E-health Digital health Telenursing Healthcare Professional Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4097938","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":529679036,"identity":"0167a6f2-dc36-45a6-9c3d-a251ca4768bd","order_by":0,"name":"Fazal Khaliq","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA40lEQVRIie2PsQrCMBCGDwJxuZI1gvQZAoEidPBVKoIuEXwAcRF0kT5LJ2cl6KS4dhQEB6eCIA4iXkUc24yC+YaDO+7j7gfweH6Qzg4BjgpCwdiKetmqVRSSkijQzTlPSgUdFYBudkBVDlyU/bpIRrFuTvF6ycdthIbdZJVZgrQnEzWgLMEyNlt6DPv9vPKKQEWKpSvBUhtOisSoTtF3UrqZxbM2TxclWETyo7DTcOai4C5qUxZ6jEdsmErktVnQ6Lx4xKEQ9nQ1t0koGnZbqXxgZeHyXR3WvworHLc9Ho/nz3gBr/1BJ4i/UosAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5472-7334","institution":"Ziauddin University, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fazal","middleName":"","lastName":"Khaliq","suffix":""},{"id":529679037,"identity":"c2dc3fb7-39cc-489a-afac-8404f03c486a","order_by":1,"name":"Shahzad Bashir","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ziauddin University, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shahzad","middleName":"","lastName":"Bashir","suffix":""},{"id":529679038,"identity":"2305cc7e-4345-4a7b-8bd2-7d7cf6910b0d","order_by":2,"name":"Saleema Gulzar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Aga Khan University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Saleema","middleName":"","lastName":"Gulzar","suffix":""},{"id":529679039,"identity":"7c818ce0-051b-4678-9438-d406c28a6243","order_by":3,"name":"Santosh Kumar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ziauddin University, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Santosh","middleName":"","lastName":"Kumar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-14 06:59:15","currentVersionCode":3,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v3","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v3","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":97673599,"identity":"78ad1fe2-d5e7-4d0d-949a-130fe3392bda","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-08 09:40:45","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":380829,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"FazalKhaliqthesismanuscriptRevisedupdatedversion.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4097938/v3_covered_1a021652-6d07-4ef8-b5cb-4e91e2dca812.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eComparison of Telehealth Readiness Assessment among Healthcare Professionals Working in Public and Private Hospitals at Peshawar, Pakistan; A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Telehealth, Telemedicine, Telehealth readiness, Tele-pharmacy, E-health, Digital health, Telenursing, Healthcare Professional","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v3","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v3","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground\u003c/strong\u003e: Telehealth, referred to as telemedicine or e-health, is the provision of medical services remotely using a telecommunications network enabling medical professionals to assess, diagnose, and treat patients without having to see them in person. Moreover, telehealth is extremely important in low-income nations like Pakistan, where the percentage of the population living in rural areas is estimated by the World Bank to be 63%, compared to 37% in urban areas (Bilal et al., 2022). However, healthcare professionals’ readiness assessment for using telehealth plays a vital role in the successful implementation of telehealth services in the healthcare system.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods and Material:\u003c/strong\u003e A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in the public and private Hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. A total of 305 healthcare professionals were selected through a convenience sampling technique. The data were entered and analyzed through the SPSS version 26. A validated and reliable tool with Cronbach’s alpha 0.91 was used. Data were presented in frequency and percentages for categorical variables, whereas; Mean and Standard Deviation for the continuous variables. Moreover, an ANOVA test was applied to compare the mean difference in telehealth readiness, a Chi-square for the association among healthcare professionals for the use of telehealth. Independent sample T-test was also applied to compare the telehealth readiness score in public and private Hospitals.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003e There was a significant difference found in the Telehealth Readiness Scores of Healthcare Professionals concerning utilizing telehealth in their practice (p-value 0.003). Moreover, there was no significant difference found in the Telehealth Readiness Scores of Healthcare Professionals concerning their gender, age, working sector, experience, and current job title.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion: \u003c/strong\u003eThe present study revealed that nurses and medical laboratory technologists were more ready for telehealth care than doctors and pharmacists. A significant association were between participants' professions and their telehealth readiness scores.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Comparison of Telehealth Readiness Assessment among Healthcare Professionals Working in Public and Private Hospitals at Peshawar, Pakistan; A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":3,"date":"2025-12-05 21:37:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v3","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":2,"date":"2025-10-14 21:00:21","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v2","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}},{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-12 14:37:55","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097938/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"fec39709-f8fb-4e52-a75d-4a3ee9920438","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-12T14:37:55+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-05 21:37:02","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v3","identity":"rs-4097938","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4097938","identity":"rs-4097938","version":["v3"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}