Acharya Rajesh V, Rai Jasuma J
Implementation Lead, Ubq Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Professor, Department of Periodontology, K. M. Shah Dental College and Hospital, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2016 Oct-Dec;5(4):798-803. doi: 10.4103/2249-4863.201174.
Telemedicine incorporates electronic information and medical technology. It connects healthcare through vast distances which would benefit both patients and doctors. The aim of this questionnaire study was to evaluate the effects of telemedicine on patients and medical specialists.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 122 participants (71 patients and 51 doctors) on satisfaction in quality of service, cost-effectiveness, and problems encountered in healthcare provided by the telemedicine in Apollo Tele Health Services, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The data for each group were calculated and compared.
About 80% patients and all the doctors reported their satisfaction on the quality of treatment given through telemedicine. Approximately, 90% of the participants found telemedicine cost-effective and 61% of the doctors found an increase in patient's inflow apart for their regular practice. Problems encountered in telemedicine were 47% in technical issues and 39% in time scheduling by doctors and 31% of patients were uncomfortable to face the camera, and 24% had technical issues.
The results of the present study showed that telemedicine in healthcare could prove to be useful to patients in distant regions and to rural doctors in India. In the near future, telemedicine can be considered as an alternate to face to face patient care.
远程医疗融合了电子信息和医疗技术。它通过远距离连接医疗保健，这对患者和医生都有益处。这项问卷调查研究的目的是评估远程医疗对患者和医学专家的影响。
在印度特伦甘纳邦海得拉巴市阿波罗远程健康服务中心，对122名参与者（71名患者和51名医生）进行了一项横断面研究，以了解他们对远程医疗提供的医疗服务质量、成本效益以及遇到的问题的满意度。计算并比较了每组的数据。
约80%的患者和所有医生对通过远程医疗提供的治疗质量表示满意。大约90%的参与者认为远程医疗具有成本效益，61%的医生发现除了他们的常规业务外，患者流量有所增加。远程医疗中遇到的问题包括47%的技术问题、39%的医生时间安排问题、31%的患者面对摄像头感到不舒服以及24%的患者存在技术问题。
本研究结果表明，医疗保健中的远程医疗对印度偏远地区的患者和农村医生可能有用。在不久的将来，远程医疗可被视为面对面患者护理的一种替代方式。
