Access to Specialized Care Through Telemedicine in Limited-Resource Country: Initial 1,065 Teleconsultations in Albania

Latifi, Rifat; Gunn, Jayleen K. L.; Bakiu, Evis; Boci, Arian; Dasho, Erion; Olldashi, Fatos; Pipero, Pellumb; Stroster, John A.; Qesteri, Orland; Kuçani, Julian; Sulo, Ardi; Oshafi, Manjola; Osmani, Kalterina; Dogjani, Agron; Doarn, Charles R.; Shatri, Zhaneta; Kociraj, Agim; Merrell, Ronald C.

doi:10.1089/tmj.2016.0050

Cited by 28 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The kind of clinical disciplines that can be added to the program depends on many factors, but these are mostly dictated by the clinical needs of regional hospitals and physician leaders. 19 No significant difference in the need for the system was observed among the treatment divisions. This means that a robot can be widely used in all treatment divisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…It was also reported that live teleconsultations need to be in the proximity of physicians, nurses, and patients or go completely mobile, such as through secured tablets and iPods. 19 Response time is an important factor for facilitating rapid identification and intervention for diseases, especially for emergency consultations. 3 In the management of crises or emergencies, even personal digital assistants can be used for data transfer and video calls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the economic effect of telemedicine has been previously addressed in many health care systems, finding a way to compensate consulting physicians and other medical personnel for their time spent answering telemedicine referrals has not been adequately explored in the literature. 19 Particularly, the introduction and usage of telehealth in Korea is behind that in other countries, largely due to a lack of policy and adequate legislation. 22 As such, there has been little discussion of the compensation for telehealth, including teleconsultation, in South Korea.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the Need for Point-of-Care Robots to Support Teleconsultation

Lee

Kim

et al. 2019

Telemedicine and e-Health

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Background: Development of a point-of-care (POC) consultation system based on telepresence robots is needed to enable effective decision-making by medical staff at care sites. Introduction: This study aimed to identify essential features and functional requirements of teleconsultation robot systems and predict potential administrative and clinical issues. Materials and Methods: Surveys were conducted with 90 health care professionals and additional focus group interviews with 4 physicians and 5 nurses. The questionnaire for the surveys was developed by the authors. Survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and content analysis was used to extract themes from the unabridged transcripts of focus group interviews. Results: The most desired functionalities were related to patient evaluation and facilitation of communication, including measuring vital signs, and medical record sharing and delivery. Nurses and physicians reported different needs for human-robot interactions. Nurses valued robotic functions such as voice command, automatic camera movement, voice recognition with contextual perception, and recognition of nonverbal signals. The thematic analysis of the interviews yielded four themes: major functions, usability, expected effects, and potential issues. The results indicated that robots should primarily be employed to support communication between medical professionals. The major expected effects included prevention of treatment delays and decision-making assistance. Participants believed that teleconsultation robots would be helpful, but had concerns, including anxiety about the robots and judgment errors. Conclusions: Using robots in health care institutions may support effective communication among medical staff, thus contributing to health care improvement. In the future, an actual POC robot system will be developed and its effectiveness evaluated.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the Need for Point-of-Care Robots to Support Teleconsultation

Lee

Kim

et al. 2019

Telemedicine and e-Health

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“…Hopefully, these examples, new U.S. and other government's support, along with other lessons from around the world that have been well documented [29][30][31][32] will ensure continuation, expansion, and sustainability of current enthusiasm for telemedicine across the world, and in all clinical disciplines.…”

Section: Covid-19 and The Rise Of Telemedicinementioning

confidence: 99%

Perspective on COVID-19: Finally, Telemedicine at Center Stage

Latifi

Doarn

2020

Telemedicine and e-Health

Self Cite

110

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The new world order caused by COVID-19 virus, associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome, multiple organ failure, and very high mortality, has brought about many changes to our world. Suddenly, the medical community, and those who finance the health care sector, realized that telemedicine and telepresence are applicable, desirable, acceptable, and much sought after by our patients and we can manage just about every disease and condition. Although, by and large, telemedicine has faced challenges and perhaps some resistance, despite its great potential, it has become evident that telemedicine can provide rapid, safe, and high-quality care remotely during this pandemic, the largest one since 1918. Perhaps one benefit of suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic will be the establishment of a new virtual medical world order, and that telemedicine has taken its deserving place in health care: prime time and a center stage.

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“…Telehealth is defined as the use of telecommunications to provide health information and care across distance [ 1 ]. It may improve access to specialists by redistributing expertise in given care contexts virtually [ 2 ]. The adoption of telehealth technologies greatly reduces location as a barrier to accessing high-quality treatment and care, opening up new opportunities for healthcare providers to engage with patients and other professionals across distances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scenario-Based Assessment of User Needs for Point-of-Care Robots

Lee

Kim

2018

Healthc Inform Res

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ObjectivesThis study aimed to derive specific user requirements and barriers in a real medical environment to define the essential elements and functions of two types of point-of-care (POC) robot: a telepresence robot as a tool for teleconsultation, and a bedside robot to provide emotional care for patients.MethodsAn analysis of user requirements was conducted; user needs were gathered and identified, and detailed, realistic scenarios were created. The prototype robots were demonstrated in physical environments for envisioning and evaluation. In all, three nurses and three clinicians participated as evaluators to observe the demonstrations and evaluate the robot systems. The evaluators were given a brief explanation of each scene and the robots' functionality. Four major functions of the teleconsultation robot were defined and tested in the demonstration. In addition, four major functions of the bedside robot were evaluated.ResultsAmong the desired functions for a teleconsultation robot, medical information delivery and communication had high priority. For a bedside robot, patient support, patient monitoring, and healthcare provider support were the desired functions. The evaluators reported that the teleconsultation robot can increase support from and access to specialists and resources. They mentioned that the bedside robot can improve the quality of hospital life. Problems identified in the demonstration were those of space conflict, communication errors, and safety issues.ConclusionsIncorporating this technology into healthcare services will enhance communication and teamwork skills across distances and thereby facilitate teamwork. However, repeated tests will be needed to evaluate and ensure improved performance.

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Access to Specialized Care Through Telemedicine in Limited-Resource Country: Initial 1,065 Teleconsultations in Albania

Cited by 28 publications

References 14 publications

Investigating the Need for Point-of-Care Robots to Support Teleconsultation

Investigating the Need for Point-of-Care Robots to Support Teleconsultation

Perspective on COVID-19: Finally, Telemedicine at Center Stage

Scenario-Based Assessment of User Needs for Point-of-Care Robots

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