Establishment Background and Factors Affecting the Success of Telemedicine Provision

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Health Services Management, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IR Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Today, access to healthcare is considered a major indicator of community health. Telemedicine technology is an opportunity to increase access and improve the quality of healthcare in a country's development of a healthcare system. The establishment of a telemedicine system and the provision of healthcare in this way require a proper infrastructure, and multiple factors must be considered. This study investigated the areas of establishing telemedicine and the factors affecting its success in the Health Department of Iran’s oil industry.
Methods: This study is objective and analytical (non-experimental) and used the research-applied method to collect information. The statistic community included all professionals and personnel of the Health Department of Iran’s oil industry in 2014-2015. The establishment background and success factors of telemedicine provision were explored based on the study of 341 health experts and professionals. Data was analyzed by SPSS16 and Lisral Software.
Results: The results show that both variables, i.e. establishment background (0.63) and organizational effectiveness factors (0.52), had a significant positive effect on the successful implementation of a telemedicine provision system. Furthermore, the factors of successful establishment of a telemedicine system (0.67) had a significant effect. Among the establishment background factors, financial structure (0.87) had the most significant effect on the successful establishment of a telemedicine system. Among the factors influencing success, organizational regulations and rules (0.83) were the most significant.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the current study, it is clear that giving the same attention to the establishment background and organizational effectiveness factors will lead to the successful implementation of telemedicine. It is recommended that the managers and policy makers of the country's health sector use and implement telemedicine in other areas as well. With proper planning, this could lead to increased community access to health services, savings in human and financial resources in the healthcare system, and reduced healthcare costs.

Keywords

References

  1. Torani S, Khammarnia M, Delgoshaei B. The ability of specialized hospitals of iran university of medical sciences in establishing remote medical advice. Director General. 2012;8(6):785-94.
  2. Chabat F, Hansell DM, Yang G-Z. Computerized decision support in medical imaging. IEEE Eng Med Biol Mag. 2000;19(5):89-96.
  3. Cadilhac DA, Moloczij N, Denisenko S, Dewey H, Disler P, Winzar B, et al. Establishment of an effective acute stroke telemedicine program for Australia: protocol for the Victorian Stroke Telemedicine project. Int J Stroke. 2014;9(2):252-8.
  4. Cascardo D. Telemedicine: Advancing from Idea to Implementation. J Med Pract Manage. 2015;31(2):82-4.
  5. Goodarzi M, Torabi M, Safdari R, Dargahi H, Naeimi S. Innovation Network Development Model in Telemedicine: A Change in Participation. Healthc Inform Res. 2015;21(4):265-70.
  6. Pinciroli F, Corso M, Fuggetta A, Masseroli M, Bonacina S, Marceglia S. Telemedicine and e-health. IEEE Pulse. 2011;2(3):62-70.
  7. Dávalos ME, French MT, Burdick AE, Simmons SC. Economic evaluation of telemedicine: review of the literature and research guidelines for benefit–cost analysis. Telemed J E Health. 2009;15(10):933-48.
  8. Bashshur RL, Reardon TG, Shannon GW. Telemedicine: a new health care delivery system. Annu Rev Public Health. 2000;21(1):613-37.
  9. Bashshur RL. Telemedicine effects: cost, quality, and access. J Med Syst. 1995;19(2):81-91.
  10. Ostbye T, Hurlen P. The electronic house call. Consequences of telemedicine consultations for physicians, patients, and society. Arch Fam Med. 1997;6(3):266-71.
  11. Scott RE. e-Records in health--preserving our future. Int J Med Inform. 2007;76(5-6):427-31.
  12. Hayavi Haghighi M, Alipour J, Mastaneh Z, Mouseli L. Feasibility study of telemedicine implementation in Hormozgan university of medical sciences. Bimonthly Journal of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences. 2011;15(2):128-37.
  13. Ramalingam K. Chief Telemedicine Technical Services in Amrita Institute of Medical sciences & Research Center. 2002.
  14. Rahimzadeh E, Rahimzade S, Azadi S, Amani F. Feasibility of application and establishment of telemedicine in Ardabil's Imam Khomeini Hospital. Student Res Commit Ardabil Med Sci Univ J. 2012;2(2):5-10. Persian.
  15. Porazin SH. Estimated resources to implement telehealth in Iran. Proceedings of the 4th Regional Conference on eHealth; 18-19 Sep. 2004 Tehran: Health and Medical Education Secretariat Takfab; 2004. p. 13. Persian.
  16. Kannan S. Utilization of Telehealth in India 2008. Available from: https://mpra.ub.uni-uenchen.de/15001/1/MPRA_paper_15001.pdf.
  17. Judi HM, Razak A, Sha'ari N, Mohamed H. Feasibility and critical success factors in implementing telemedicine. Inf Technol J. 2009;8(3):326-32.
  18. Fayyazi A, Ghaedamini R, Azizian F, Tofighi Sh. Comparison of physicians and paramedics‘ conception on the use of telemedicine in Shahrekord's Ayatollah Kashani Hospital. In: Sciences TUoM, editor. The First International Symposium on Electronic Hospital and Telemedicine; Tehran: Tapko Congress Center; 2010. Persian.
  19. Kurd B, Mirinejad E. Study of Effective Factors on Implementation of Telemedicine in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. Asian J Res Soc Sci Humanit. 2014;4(8):287-302.
  20. Dargahi H, Razavi SM. The role of organizational culture in the implementation of telemedicine technology in health care centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2003-2004. Tehran Univ Med Sci J. 2003;63(2):99-107. Persian.
  21. Bangert D, Doktor R. The role of organization culture in management of clinical e-health systems, proceeding of 36th Hawaii international Conference on System Sciences. 2003 Jan 6-9: Hawaii. USA.
  22. Yellowlees P. Successful development of telemedicine systems-seven core principles. J Telemed Telecare. 1997;3(4):215-22.
International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health
Volume 4, Issue 1
Winter 2016
Pages 25-30

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 24 November 2016
  • Accept Date: 18 January 2016

Share

How to cite

Statistics