Practical aspects of telehealth: establishing telehealth in an institution

The fifth in a series of papers on practical aspects of telehealth, this paper discusses telehealth models that can facilitate the provision of specialist services to rural and remote patients closer to home. Some of the barriers to successful implementation of these models relates to workforce, fun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Internal medicine journal 2014-02, Vol.44 (2), p.202-205
Main Authors: Sabesan, S., Allen, D. T., Caldwell, P., Loh, P. K., Mozer, R., Komesaroff, P. A., Talman, P., Williams, M., Shaheen, N., Grabinski, O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude of Health Personnel
Humans
Medically Underserved Area
Models, Organizational
Oncology Service, Hospital - organization & administration
Patient Preference
Quality Improvement
Queensland
Rural Health Services - organization & administration
Rural Population
telehealth
telemedicine
Telemedicine - methods
Telemedicine - organization & administration
teleoncology
Townsville Teleoncology Network
video consultation
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Summary:The fifth in a series of papers on practical aspects of telehealth, this paper discusses telehealth models that can facilitate the provision of specialist services to rural and remote patients closer to home. Some of the barriers to successful implementation of these models relates to workforce, funding and infrastructure at rural sites, as well as the traditional mindset of healthcare professionals. Therefore, the rural sector needs to be adequately resourced for telehealth models to be substantive and successful. This paper describes the development of a large teleoncology network over a vast geographical area in North Queensland. Adequate resourcing for the rural sites and undertaking quality improvement activities has continually enhanced the model over a 5‐ to 6‐year period. The benefits of this model of care are twofold: (i) patients received their care closer to home and (ii) the workforce, service capabilities and infrastructure for the hospital in Mt Isa (a rural town 900 km away from its tertiary centre) has improved.
ISSN:1444-0903
1445-5994
DOI:10.1111/imj.12339