Examining Telemedicine Adoption After the COVID-19 Pandemic and Evaluating the Impact of a Virtual Hospital on Clinician Engagement: Longitudinal Survey Study.

backgroundAfter the emergence of telemedicine as a major health care delivery mode during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheba Medical Center (SMC) rapidly transitioned its outpatient clinics to telemedicine. A postimplementation satisfaction study revealed that while nearly 90% of patients reported a positive experience, only 38% of clinicians expressed high satisfaction. SMC soon established Sheba BEYOND, a dedicated virtual hospital. This initiative was accompanied by extensive efforts to improve the telemedicine experience. In 2025, a follow-up survey addressing clinician satisfaction and acceptance was conducted.

objectiveThis study aimed to explore whether clinician satisfaction improved and which barriers to clinician engagement persisted.

methodsAn anonymous survey was distributed via a link to the staff of SMC's outpatient clinics. The survey inquired about user experience with the telemedicine digital platform, integration in workflow, barriers to use, perceived benefit to patients, and overall satisfaction. Clinicians who never or rarely perform telemedicine visits were classified as nonusers; all others were classified as users. The questionnaire included 21 questions, 2 additional questions for nonusers, and 5 additional questions for users. Overall satisfaction was ranked on a 10-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were calculated using SPSS (version 29.02; IBM Corp) and Microsoft Excel. A chi-square test of independence was used for categorical variables. We used a 2-tailed t test, with a probability of <.05 considered statistically significant.

resultsThe survey was sent to 2735 clinicians, and 274 (10%) responded. Telemedicine users accounted for 52.6% (144/274). Among all respondents, 54.4% (149/274) were physicians, 30.3% (83/274) were paramedical staff, and 15.3% (42/274) were nurses. Clinical specialties across all respondents were internal medicine (36/274, 13%), psychiatry (34/274, 12%), pediatrics (36/274, 13%), oncology (31/274, 11%), and other specialties (137/274, 50%). Compared to the 2020 survey, a 41.9% increase was recorded in the number of users reporting a high level of satisfaction, from 37.7% (61/162) to 53.5% (77/144; P=.006). This increase was largely driven by a significant improvement in the oncology clinic, where users reporting a high level of satisfaction rose from 23.3% (10/43) to 63.6% (14/22; P=.01). In total, 64.4% (176/274) of respondents believed that telemedicine was advantageous for patient care and 66% (95/144) of users reported that telemedicine reduced their workload. Among the 103 video-visit users who answered the technical feedback questions, 62.1% (64/103) experienced problems in connecting to the patients' network and 32% (33/103) experienced connectivity problems in SMC. In fact, 80.6% (83/103) reported that they had to switch to the telephone at least once. Most of the 98 nonusers (80/98, 81.6%) stated that they did not perform telemedicine because it was mostly clinically inappropriate.

conclusionsThis study demonstrates the positive impact of institutional change management strategy in promoting clinician engagement with telemedicine. However, persistent technical barriers and varying engagement highlight opportunities for refinement.