Abstract
eHealth is promoted as a means to strengthen health systems and facilitate universal health coverage. Sub-components (e.g. telehealth, telemedicine, mhealth) are seen as mitigators of healthcare provider shortages and poor rural and remote access. Teleradiology (including mobile teleradiology), widespread in developed nations, is uncommon in developing nations. Decision- and policy-makers require evidence to inform their decisions regarding implementation of mobile teleradiology in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan countries. To gather evidence, Scopus and PubMed were searched using defined search strings (September 2020). Duplicates were removed, and titles and abstracts reviewed using specified selection criteria. Full-text papers of selected resources were retrieved and reviewed against the criteria. Insight from included studies was charted for eight a priori categories of information: needs assessment, implementation, connectivity, evaluation, costing, image display, image capture and concordance. Fifty-seven articles were identified, duplicates removed and titles and abstracts of remaining articles reviewed against study criteria. Twenty-six papers remained. After review of full-texts, ten met the study criteria. These were summarised, and key insights for the eight categories were charted. Few papers have been published on teleradiology in sub-Saharan Africa. Teleradiology, including mobile teleradiology, is feasible in sub-Saharan Africa for routine X-ray support of patients and healthcare providers in rural and remote locations. Former technical issues (image quality, transmission speed, image compression) have been largely obviated through the high-speed, high-resolution digital imaging and network transmission capabilities of contemporary smartphones and mobile networks, where accessible. Comprehensive studies within the region are needed to guide the widespread introduction of mobile teleradiology.
Highlights
EHealth, the cost-effective and secure use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for health and health-related fields,[1] can contribute to health systems’ strengthening in several ways
Teleradiology, the transmission of radiological patient images (X-rays, CTs, MRIs) from one location to another in order to share these studies with other clinicians for consultation or interpretation, is considered one of the oldest, most established, successful and widely used clinical telemedicine specialties
This study confirms that improvements in device and information technology have enabled advances in teleradiology and opened the field of mobile teleradiology
Summary
EHealth, the cost-effective and secure use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for health and health-related fields,[1] can contribute to health systems’ strengthening in several ways It can improve the availability, quality and use of information and evidence through strengthened health information systems and public health surveillance systems, as well as increase access to healthcare services by reducing distance and time barriers through telemedicine. The term eHealth, more recently Digital Health, is an umbrella term that covers a variety of activities such as: e-commerce (the business side), e-learning (the training – awareness, teaching, instruction, and education – side), health informatics (the data gathering, storage, analysis, and distribution side), and telehealth including telemedicine (the interactive – real-time or store-and-forward – side).[3] More recent applications such as mHealth, the use of mobile devices such as cell phones, can incorporate elements of each.[2]. The evolution of conventional radiology to digital radiology and to teleradiology has been described.[4] http://www.sajr.org.za
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