Effects of an awareness symposium on perception of Libyan physicians regarding telemedicine.

The awareness of health care providers, particularly physicians, towards telemedicine is pivotal to its development. In this study we distributed questionnaires among Libyan physicians attending a medical symposium on telemedicine, held in the period 28 February-1 March, 2005. The sample comprised 28 males and 13 females from different specialties and from different parts of the country. Most reported being confused (53.7%) or unaware (14.6%) regarding telemedicine before the symposium. Afterwards, 12.2% were confused, 39.0% showed excellent understanding and 48.8% reported fair understanding; 97.6% supported the implementation of telemedicine in the country and appreciated the importance of establishing remote health services.