Commentary: Reflecting on the Neglected Digital Divide Barriers of Telemedicine During COVID-19

Cheshmehzangi, Ali; Zou, Tong; Zhang, Yuxi; Chen, Hengcai; Su, Zhaohui; Dawodu, Ayotunde; Xie, Linjun

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.915401

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…It has been discussed that there are four types of digital divide barriers, mental, material, skill, and usage, that may limit the further applications of telemedicine ( 62 , 63 ). The authors suggested, to date, many people are still reluctant to choose telemedicine services because of at least six factors, including lack of trust, lack of support, lack of accessibility, user-unfriendly platforms, digital illiteracy, and inequalities related to gender, age and social groups ( 62 ). However, this situation may be somewhat different in China.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telemedicine Is Becoming an Increasingly Popular Way to Resolve the Unequal Distribution of Healthcare Resources: Evidence From China

Gao

Fan

Chen

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundFew studies focused on the general situation of telemedicine in China.ObjectivesThe purpose of this review is to investigate telemedicine in China, from the aspects of necessity, history, scale, and operation procedure, to improve the further development and implementation of telemedicine service.MethodsA literature search for peer-reviewed studies was conducted using the primary electronic databases. Additional documents from the official websites of Chinese government departments involved telemedicine was also collected. We extracted telemedicine related information focused on China from the final retrieved materials, and the general situation of telemedicine was drawn.ResultsIn China, telemedicine offers a feasible solution to the unequal allocation of healthcare resources, which makes telemedicine increasingly become an important alternative to close the gap between rural and urban in the capability and quality of medical services. China initiated telemedicine in the late 1980s. In 2018, China's telemedicine network has covered more than 3,000 hospitals across the country. As of 2019, almost all of the 31 provinces and municipalities in mainland have established regional telemedicine centers, and the market size of telemedicine reached about USD 2.68 billion. Based on the telemedicine network, remote rural patients can apply for healthcare services of top-tier urban hospitals through local county-level medical institutions.ConclusionsThrough improving the capacity, quality, and efficiency of healthcare in underserved areas, and reducing the unequal distribution of medical resources, telemedicine can help solve the problems of the difficulty and high cost to access to medical services in China.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telemedicine Is Becoming an Increasingly Popular Way to Resolve the Unequal Distribution of Healthcare Resources: Evidence From China

Gao

Fan

Chen

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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“…Additionally, older adults and those with limited technology skills may have difficulty using telemedicine platforms. Bridging the digital divide is crucial for ensuring equitable access to healthcare services through telemedicine [36,37].…”

Section: Facilitators and Barriers Of Telemedicinementioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Telemedicine in Medical Education and Patient Care

Shawwa¹

2023

Cureus

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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and expanded the adoption of telemedicine globally. This allowed telemedicine to engage medical students in patient care and ensured continuity of care for vulnerable patients. In this review, the history of telemedicine and some of its applications in medical education were reviewed. Furthermore, we also shed light on how to incorporate telemedicine into several curricula and the strategies used to include it. The article also explored how to evaluate telemedicine and the major facilitators and barriers any medical and educational institution must address when using telemedicine. At the end of the review, we explored the future promises telemedicine has for medical education.

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“…The role of system quality did not receive any empirical support. Cheshmehzangi et al (2022) in their commentary investigated the barrier in telemedicine during COVID pandemic. They classified the obstacles into two categories include tangible and intangible barriers.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of telemedicine systems use barriers: primary health care providers' perspective

Tabaeeian

Hajrahimi

Khoshfetrat

2022

JSTPM

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Purpose The purpose of this review paper was identifying barriers to the use of telemedicine systems in primary health-care individual level among professionals. Design/methodology/approach This study used Scopus and PubMed databases for scientific records identification. A systematic review of the literature structured by PRISMA guidelines was conducted on 37 included papers published between 2009 and 2019. A qualitative approach was used to synthesize insights into using telemedicine by primary care professionals. Findings Three barriers were identified and classified: system quality, data quality and service quality barriers. System complexity in terms of usability, system unreliability, security and privacy concerns, lack of integration and inflexibility of systems-in-use are related to system quality. Data quality barriers are data inaccuracy, data timeliness issues, data conciseness concerns and lack of data uniqueness. Finally, service reliability concerns, lack of technical support and lack of user training have been categorized as service quality barriers. Originality/value This review identified and mapped emerging themes of barriers to the use of telemedicine systems. This paper also through a new conceptualization of telemedicine use from perspectives of the primary care professionals contributes to informatics literature and system usage practices.

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Commentary: Reflecting on the Neglected Digital Divide Barriers of Telemedicine During COVID-19

Cited by 12 publications

References 17 publications

Telemedicine Is Becoming an Increasingly Popular Way to Resolve the Unequal Distribution of Healthcare Resources: Evidence From China

Telemedicine Is Becoming an Increasingly Popular Way to Resolve the Unequal Distribution of Healthcare Resources: Evidence From China

The Use of Telemedicine in Medical Education and Patient Care

A systematic review of telemedicine systems use barriers: primary health care providers' perspective

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