Teleneurology has shown promise in increasing access to neurologic care, though successful adoption relies on acceptance by patients and their providers. Studies have shown that telemedicine is well received by patients. However, little is known about provider perceptions about telemedicine. Understanding provider attitudes may help with identifying barriers to its adoption into clinical practice and inform strategies to improve acceptance by providers.

A Web-based, self-administered, anonymous, cross-sectional survey was sent to staff neurologists, neuropsychologists and trainees within the department. Descriptive statistics were used to examine characteristics of participants and their perceptions. Chi-squared tests were performed to evaluate for differences in the distribution of responses between groups. 

73 of 93 (78%) potential subjects completed the survey. The average age was 37.8 years and average number of post-training clinical experience was 5.8 years. 50% of participants were staff neurologists/neuropsychologists and 45% were either residents or fellows. 87% of participants had had some exposure to telemedicine and 42% had participated in a telemedicine encounter. 70% of participants agreed that telemedicine offered more advantages than disadvantages, though there was a difference between those who had had exposure to telemedicine (83%) than those without such  exposure (62%) (p=0.05). The most commonly cited concerns were lack of time for telemedicine, lack of technical expertise or support, concerns about compensation and inability to adequately assess patients during encounters.