Telemedicine: Adoption and Its Challenges

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined telemedicine as "the delivery of healthcare services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for continuing education of healthcare providers, all in the interests of advancing the health of individuals." When healthcare services are provided to patients using information, communication, and technology, it is referred to as telemedicine. Telemedicine services work by attending to the patient's requirements through calls and video conferencing. Evolutionary ideas like telemedicine have been adopted successfully around the globe because of technological progress and application in several industries. Both developed and developing countries have found value in the use of telemedicine. The use of integrated telemedicine in the healthcare system has a number of key advantages, including increased revenue, increased patient reach, convenience, increased feasibility, high diversity and availability of multiple healthcare professionals on a single platform, and improved healthcare quality. The Nebraska Psychiatry Program from the 1950s may have influenced the development of telemedicine (Abrams, 2014). The program made use of closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) with two-way communication. Since that time, a number of telemedicine initiatives have been started in America for consultation, neurological evaluation, speech therapy, and staff training.