Introduction:

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic posed challenges for health systems in terms of providing continuity of patient care through the rapid adoption of telehealth. This brought challenges for professionals who dealt with information and communication technologies.

Objectives:

To identify knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices of health professionals who used telehealth in the outpatient setting during the pandemic and to analyze possible factors related to the barriers that professionals present to effectively implement telehealth services.

Methods:

This is a descriptive analytical cross-sectional study. An electronic survey was used on health professionals from three medical centers in Colombia.

Results:

Four hundred thirty (430) surveys were used. The median age was 39 years and 79% were women. 57% had not been trained in technical, regulatory and ethical aspects of telehealth; 46% reported difficulty managing time; 81% reported an increase in their workload. The difficulty in using technological tools was associated 4.67 times more with the perception of alteration of their own state of health; however, 92% said they would continue to use telehealth.

Conclusions:

The attitude towards the use of telehealth was positive; knowledge, skills, and training in telehealth seem to determine its acceptability. This is a first evaluation that reveals the points to work on in the case of professionals, based on the permanence of telehealth as a tool for patient care.