Abstract of Dissertation

Keyword : Telemedicine/Telehealth; Factors affecting Telemedicine; Influence of Telemedicine

Objective : The study shall be guided by the following objectives: 1. To Identify the influence of infrastructure on the use of telemedicine 2. To assess how technical skills influence the use of telemedicine 3. Assess how staff attitude influence the use of telemedicine

Background : Use of Information and communication technology (ICT) in healthcare growing, it’s making a significant impact on data collection, data analysis and scalability of healthcare. Telemedicine/Telehealth is an ICT based outreach health care facility. Although healthcare access is improving in India, still there is a wide gap between services available in rural places of India. India constitutes almost 70% rural population and 30 % of the urban population, but when it comes to availability of healthcare facility ratio is just inverted 80% of health There are several reasons for this imbalance e.g. less number of qualified doctors, less number of nurses, healthcare infrastructure availability and all. Telemedicine can help to fill this gap by providing a healthcare facility to a remote location with the help of existing manpower infrastructure. The earlier Biggest challenge for scalability of Telemedicine was non-availability of the data network (Internet), but as 4G technology is expanding this hindrance is no more that much effective. Govt. of India working on Health for all model and want to Provide healthcare services to all its citizen, even to the remotely located villages. There are many problem com This research has been done to identify factors influencing the use of telemedicine, it will help in the proper and effective implementation of a telemedicine program.

Methodology : Study design: Descriptive survey Setting: Remote telemedicine canter of Madurai (Hospital name is confidential) Duration of study: 3 months (5th February 2018 to 5th May 2018) Sample size: 200 Sampling technique: Convenient sampling Sample selection: Personnel familiar with telemedicine services Data Collection Instrument Questionnaire: The Modified form of Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) questionnaire was used. Data Collection Procedure: Questionnaire has been converted in digital/electronic form (Google form) and send these forms to the Telemedicine centers, Questionnaires were filled with the help of a nurse on mobile and computer Data analysis: Microsoft Excel 2016 Ethical Consideration: Informed consent was taken before commencing the survey. The confidentiality of the respondents will be assured that participation in the study is completely voluntary and participants can withdraw from a study at any stage. The respondents will be informed that the collected data will not be shared with anyone other agency and will only be used only for academic purpose.

Recommendations : This study is basically tried to find out the influence of numerous factors on the use of telemedicine. After data analysis with Microsoft Excel 2016. Talking about Performance Expectancy, it is concluded that the majority of the sample population says that telemedicine is useful in consultation with a doctor, it increases the availability of a doctor and overall it improves productivity. Research is also found that by use of telemedicine their communication with a doctor is clear. Talking about effort expectancy, respondents say that use telemedicine doesn’t require any specific skills and it is easy to learn. Research is also found that respondents have a positive attitude toward telemedicine and says that it is a promising idea to use telemedicine. Social influence always plays a significant role in the use of new service and research. In society influencer as well as a person who is important (for decision making) perspectives towards Telemedicine was neutral. For improvement of this social influence, social behavior change communication can play a key role. If all the required resources and staff for support available at the.


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