Factors Associated with the Use of Public EHealth Services in Poland - a 2022 Nationwide Cross-sectional Survey

Introduction And Objective: Poland is an example of a European country that has made significant progress in digitizing healthcare during the last 5 years. There is limited data on the use of eHealth services by different socio-economic groups in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic The aim of the study was to characterize public attitudes towards the use of e-Health services in Poland, as well as to identify factors associated with the use of e-Health services among adults in Poland.

Material And Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was carried out during 9-12 September 2022. A computer-assisted web interview methodology was used. A nationwide random quota sample of 1,092 adult Poles was selected. Questions on the use of 6 different public eHealth services in Poland and soci-economic characteristics were addressed.

Results: Two-thirds of participants (67.1%) had received an e-prescription in the last 12 months. More than half of the participants used the Internet Patient Account (58.2%) or the patient.gov.pl website (54.9%). One-third of the participants had teleconsultation with a doctor (34.4%), and approximately one-quarter of participants had received electronic sick leave (26.9%) or used electronic information about treatment dates (26.7%). Of the ten different socio-economic factors analyzed in this study, educational level, and place of residence (p<0.05) were the most important factors associated with the use of public eHealth services among adults in Poland.

Conclusions: Living in rural areas or small cities is associated with a lower level of public eHealth services utilization. A relatively high interest in health education through eHealth methods was observed.