Benefits of Telemedicine and Barriers to its Effective Implementation in Rural India: A Multicentric E- Survey.
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Date
2013-01
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Abstract
Introduction: Telemedicine has become an accepted
concept in health care worldwide. The practice of health
care using interactive audio, visual and data communications
is the need of the hour. This includes health care delivery,
diagnosis, consultation and treatment, as well as education
and transfer of medical data. Objectives: 1) To estimate
the benefits of telemedicine in health care system in rural
Maharashtra. 2) To identify the barriers in effective
implementation of telemedicine in rural Maharashtra.
Materials and Methods: Study Type: E-survey using a
validated structured questionnaire. Locus of Study:
Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical
College, Wardha. Duration of Study: 3 months. Study
Design:The questionnaire was sent to doctors of all
specialities through email. A total of 300 completed
questionnaires were evaluated and statistically analyzed
using SPSS software. Results: The results showed a
significant association (p < 0.001) of high acceptance of
telemedicine in doctors of teaching hospitals as compared
to doctors from non-teaching hospitals and private
practitioners. Preoperative services, discharge, referral,
follow-up and obtaining second opinions are other facilities
that can be offered through telemedicine to patients in rural
areas. The benefits of telemedicine acknowledged by
doctors through this survey include obtaining laboratory
results; making appointments; transmission of ECG, X rays
and still images; telephonic consultation for patients, health
education, monitoring patients at home (follow up), preoperative
services, obtaining second opinions and referral
of patients for tertiary care. The important barriers to the
effective implementation of telemedicine in rural areas,
indentified through this study include heavy investments in
equipments, technical difficulties, lack of staff educated in
information technology and concern about legal
responsibility. 48% doctors strongly agreed that telemedicine
should be implemented in all hospitals with internet facility.
31% of the doctors strongly disagreed that telemedicine
will increase the access of health care services for rural
patients. 42% of the doctors strongly agreed that
telemedicine will help to save the time and money of
patients. 30% of the patients strongly agreed that drug
information centers should be run through telemedicine.
Conclusions: Web enabled telemedicine system can help in
easy flow and better delivery of health care consultation to
patients in remote areas who do not get access to a super
specialized health care delivery system. However, good
access to poor patients in remote areas has to be ensured.
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Keywords
telemedicine, benefits, barriers, rural India
Citation
Ghia Canna J, Ved Jignesh K, Patil Abhishek S, Jha Rajesh K. Benefits of Telemedicine and Barriers to its Effective Implementation in Rural India: A Multicentric E- Survey. Indian Medical Gazette. 2013 Jan ; 145 (1): 1-7.