General practitioner participants in a telemedicine trial: comparisons with their peers

A study was conducted to determine whether general practitioners (GPs) participating in a telemedicine trial were self-selected enthusiasts for information technology compared with GPs in general. We compared two experimental groups of GPs in London and Wales (n = 126) who had volunteered to participate in a telemedicine trial and two randomly selected groups of GPs from the same areas (total n = 300) who acted as controls. A postal questionnaire was used and achieved a 79% response rate. There were no significant differences in the demographic characteristics of the experimental and control groups in London and Wales, except that the London telemedicine GPs (mean age 41.9 years) were significantly younger than the London controls (mean age 46.6 years). The control GPs were similar to the telemedicine GPs in terms of frequency of computer use and their responses to statements about their attitudes to computers. In the combined telemedicine and control groups, 85% and 77% respectively said that they enjoyed using computers. Telemedicine GPs used computers more frequently for administrative purposes but they shared the same attitudes towards information technology as GPs in general. In all situations where GPs could exercise personal choice, the control and experimental groups were similar.