Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Telemed J E Health. 2012 Oct;18(8):648-53. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2011.0242.
Human resources for health have many diverse aspects that sometimes bring about conflicts in the healthcare market. In recent decades issues such as attrition, migration, and different types of imbalances in health workers were not only considered as international problems, but also took on new particular dimensions and complications. Rapid growth in establishing infrastructure of communications and many diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS and malaria, as well as shortages in skilled healthcare providers in developing countries, interested many health economists and health professionals to consider telemedicine as an approach to deliver some healthcare and to pursue its effects on human resources management in healthcare. The objective of this communication is to offer a better understanding of the value of telemedicine in human resources management in healthcare. This article briefly reviews related literature on potential contributions of telemedicine in mitigating four different types of imbalances in health workers and points out some of its capabilities. Although there is a great need for systematic, scientific, and analytical studies in effects of telemedicine on health workers, expansion of communication infrastructure throughout and especially in remote areas, political commitment, and provision of useful information and education to reduce problems of human resources for health are beneficial.
卫生人力资源具有许多不同的方面，这些方面有时会在医疗保健市场上产生冲突。近几十年来，人员耗减、移徙以及卫生工作者的各种类型的不平衡等问题不仅被视为国际问题，而且还呈现出新的特殊层面和复杂性。通信基础设施的迅速发展以及人类免疫缺陷病毒/艾滋病和疟疾等许多疾病的出现，加上发展中国家熟练医疗保健提供者的短缺，引起了许多卫生经济学家和卫生专业人员的关注，他们认为远程医疗是提供一些医疗保健的一种方法，并探讨其对医疗保健人力资源管理的影响。本通讯的目的是更好地了解远程医疗在医疗保健人力资源管理中的价值。本文简要回顾了远程医疗在缓解卫生工作者的四种不同类型的不平衡方面的潜在贡献的相关文献，并指出了其一些能力。尽管非常需要对远程医疗对卫生工作者的影响进行系统、科学和分析性研究，但扩大整个通信基础设施的覆盖范围，特别是在偏远地区，以及政治承诺，提供有用的信息和教育，以减少卫生人力资源问题，都是有益的。
