What Is Telemedicine? A Collection of 104 Peer-Reviewed Perspectives and Theoretical Underpinnings

Abstract

Nearly half a century ago, telemedicine was disregarded for being an unwieldy, unreliable, and unaffordable technology. Rapidly evolving telecommunications and information technologies have provided a solid foundation for telemedicine as a feasible, dependable, and useful technology. Practitioners from a variety of medical specialties have claimed success in their telemedicine pursuits. Gradually, this new modality of healthcare delivery is finding its way into the mainstream medicine. As a multidisciplinary, dynamic, and continually evolving tool in medicine, researchers and users have developed various definitions for telemedicine. The meaning of telemedicine encapsulated in these definitions varies with the context in which the term was applied. An analysis of these definitions can play an important role in improving understanding about telemedicine. In this paper we present an extensive literature review that produced 104 peer-reviewed definitions of telemedicine. These definitions have been analyzed to highlight the context in which the term has been defined. The paper also suggests a definition of modern telemedicine. The authors suggest that telemedicine is a branch of e-health that uses communications networks for delivery of healthcare services and medical education from one geographical location to another. It is deployed to overcome issues like uneven distribution and shortage of infrastructural and human resources. We expect that this study will enhance the level of understanding and meaning of telemedicine among stakeholders, new entrants, and researchers, eventually enabling a better quality of life.

Effectiveness of telemedicine: A systematic review of reviews

“…Examples include a review of 104 definitions of telemedicine [81] which, in identifying four broad types of definitions, suggested how stakeholder interests can alter perceptions of priorities in telemedicine interventions, such that some may focus on delivering healthcare over a distance and others on the potential of technology per se; and work arguing that clinical and technical guidelines can inform the future development of telemedicine and facilitate evaluation [20] [82].…”

Seeing Is Believing: Using Skype to Improve Diabetes Outcomes in Youth

“…Telemental health care, or the delivery of psychological or behavioral health care via communication networks, has been deployed to overcome a shortage of and/or uneven distribution of behavioral health resources and infrastructure (20). Importantly, recent technological advancements such as the increasing availability and rapid growth in the adoption of household Internet among low-income and rural families (21,22) has created opportunities to provide services using telemental health.…”

“…Importantly, recent technological advancements such as the increasing availability and rapid growth in the adoption of household Internet among low-income and rural families (21,22) has created opportunities to provide services using telemental health. In particular, Internet-based videoconferencing may be an effective method of overcoming obstacles to care by increasing the availability of expert or specialized services to address regional shortages of qualified providers (20,23,24). Use of Internetbased videoconferencing platforms offers several pragmatic advantages, including being available at no or low cost to families, allowing for real-time audio and visual interaction between patients and providers, and facilitating delivery of treatment in the family home, which decrease the direct costs and time associated with treatment.…”

Portal dos idosos: desenvolvimento e avaliação de um website com informações sobre o processo de envelhecimento e as principais alterações fonoaudiológicas que acometem os idosos

“…It is important to consider the possibility that many individuals do not have easy access to health care professionals as well as to the reliable information about the health in this life stage. In this sense, Telehealth can be considered a support tool, since it helps overcoming the distance and supporting the health care process by means of communication and technologies for information transfer (6) .…”