Telemedicine - a miracle cure for everything?

Abstract

Background: Telemedicine is an interesting area of modern treatment. It enables contact between patients and doctors at long distance. In this paper, we present the latest studies, conducted among Polish doctors about the utility of the telemedicine as a therapeutic tool. Methods: One of the methods was an anonymous questionnaire presented to psychiatrists from Poland (105 physicians). The second study was based on a questionnaire filled by participants (scale: 1-inappropriate to 5-very useful). It was part of the Polish Telemedical Project (grant no.POIG.01.04.00-04-219/12) conducted to assess medical Platform ‘Moneo’ in the therapy of the areas other than psychiatry. Results: All healthcare institutions noticed advantages of Medical Platform. The Platform’s functionalities, rated as the best by healthcare directors were: educational materials, appointment and therapy planning. Managers indicated parts which could be improved in e-prescribing system, the process of collecting information about hospitalizations, operations. Functionalities regarded by doctors as desirable in improving the platform include: e-prescribing system, reporting side effects, planning visits, educational materials. In the psychiatrists' study, they had confirmed the potential of telemedicine in psychiatry. They chose mood and neurotic disorders as the most adequate for that treatment. However, 60% of doctors would not widen the implementation of telepsychiatry in Poland. Probably it is due to their awareness for the need of new software, legal and refunding system.Conclusion: Telemedicine is a useful method for specialists and directors. It can improve quality of healthcare services. However, lots of improvements in telemedical services are needed to make it a miraculous cure for everything.