Acceptance and Organizational Aspects of Oral Tele-Consultation: A French Study

This is a descriptive article focusing on the e-DENT project, the first oral tele-consultation in France, an experimentation of asynchronous dental tele-consultations meant to improve access to dental care for people who have limited access to regular consultations with a dentist such as dependent elderly, disabled people or prisoners. We consider that the generalization of dental tele-consultations is related to the acceptance of the e-DENT system, as stated by Broens & et al. (2007). This paper proposes a new methodological approach for assessing the perception of a medical procedure, involving the use of technology, for subjects with minor, mild or severe cognitive impairment. Semi-structured interviews, indirect patient observations and non-participant observations have allowed us to highlight the nurses' acceptance of the e-DENT system, the patients' perception of the oral tele-consultation procedure and to describe the induced organizational changes.