Abstract
Although evidence of the effectiveness of telemedicine is accumulating, knowledge of how to make best use of telemedicine is limited. This article presents results from a multi-stakeholder project that developed a new concept, a ‘shared service centre’ for telemedicine that is envisioned as working across different telemedical initiatives to support the implementation and wider adoption of telemedicine. One year of participatory design and analysis of the shared service centre concept involved stakeholders, such as clinicians, patients, technicians, policy makers, lawyers, economists and information technology architects. More than 100 people contributed to the findings. Most of the ideas generated for potential centre support for telemedicine could be categorised under four service categories. The need for such support services was verified in the cases investigated, and by agreement among stakeholders from regional health authorities, municipalities, and general practice. Therefore, it is probable that a shared service centre could help enable the wider deployment of telemedicine.DefinitionsIn this article, we use ‘telemedicine’ as an umbrella term for all the ‘tele-’ labels that are sometimes used rather indiscriminately to denote the use of information and technology to support healthcare services, including ‘telehealth’, ‘telemonitoring’, ‘telehomecare’, ‘e-health’, and so on. As per our definition, telemedicine may be synchronous and/or asynchronous, and may apply to any information and technology-based means of connecting healthcare actors and the patient, such as video communication, e-mail, electronic monitoring equipment, and Internet portals. Furthermore, the term ‘telemedical initiative’ covers projects in which telemedicine is conducted by a temporary project organisation, as well as self-contained telemedicine services used in daily, clinical practice in existing organisations.
Highlights
For healthcare providers, telemedicine is increasingly seen as part of the solution to caring for ageing populations and the increased prevalence of chronic conditions.[1]
The envisioned shared service centre’ (SSC) concept emerging from the development efforts may be described as a virtual organisation enabling the various stakeholders to share resources and act together in work related to the course of treatment for every patient
A requested scheme is created at the SSC for each patient, comprising the list of tasks to be performed, providing the stakeholders with a central means of coordinating clinical, technical, and economic aspects across the boundaries between healthcare sectors and companies
Summary
Telemedicine is increasingly seen as part of the solution to caring for ageing populations and the increased prevalence of chronic conditions.[1]. This may, in turn, at least partly explain why the majority of emerging pooled data reports and summative meta-studies (often favouring RCT studies in the inclusion criteria for their literature searches) find no hard evidence of improved clinical efficiency, compared to existing care,[6] and the reason business cases generally favour traditional healthcare to telemedicine.[7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
