Clinician Acceptance is the Key Factor for Sustainable Telehealth Services

Telehealth, the delivery of health care services at a distance using information and communications technology, has been slow to be adopted and difficult to sustain. Researchers developing theories concerning the introduction of complex change into health care usually take a multifactorial approach;...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2014-05, Vol.24 (5), p.682-694
Main Authors: Wade, Victoria A., Eliott, Jaklin A., Hiller, Janet E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceptance
Adult
Aged
Attitude of Health Personnel
Australia
Care delivery
Cooperative Behavior
Diffusion of Innovation
Female
Grounded Theory
Health care
Health services
Health technology assessment
Humans
Information technology
Interdisciplinary Communication
Interview, Psychological
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Care Team
Remote Consultation
Sustainability
Telemedicine
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Summary:Telehealth, the delivery of health care services at a distance using information and communications technology, has been slow to be adopted and difficult to sustain. Researchers developing theories concerning the introduction of complex change into health care usually take a multifactorial approach; we intentionally sought a single point of intervention that would have maximum impact on implementation. We conducted a qualitative interview study of 36 Australian telehealth services, sampled for maximum variation, and used grounded theory methods to develop a model from which we chose the most important factor affecting the success of telehealth. We propose that clinician acceptance explains much of the variation in the uptake, expansion, and sustainability of Australian telehealth services, and that clinician acceptance could, in most circumstances, overcome low demand, technology problems, workforce pressure, and lack of resourcing. We conclude that our model offers practical advice to those seeking to implement change with limited resources.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732314528809