Digital communication tools use among physicians pre- and post-COVID-19 in Italy 2020

During the COVID-19 emergency in Italy many patients in need of care and consulting could not access health services the way they used to in the past. For this reason, digital communication channels have become central in the interaction between patients and doctors. According to a survey conducted in June 2020 among medical specialists in Italy, 66 percent of respondents reported that they used emails to communicate with patients. This figure, however, decreased to 50 percent when asked if they were interested in implementing this communication method in the future. On the other hand, only 14 percent of physicians participating in the survey said that they used collaboration platforms such as Skype. In this case, this figure reached 47 percent when including also those who showed interested in the introduction of this kind of tools in the future.