Applications of telehealth in the practice, upgrading of knowledge, and communication of physicians with their colleagues and patients in Canada

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorVahedi, Irandokht
dc.contributor.supervisorKushniruk, Andre W.
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-01T15:32:59Z
dc.date.available2017-05-01T15:32:59Z
dc.date.copyright2017en_US
dc.date.issued2017-05-01
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Health Information Science
dc.degree.levelMaster of Science M.Sc.en_US
dc.description.abstractApplications of Telehealth in the practice, upgrading of knowledge, and communication of physicians with their colleagues and patients in Canada was explored in this study. The research used exploratory-grounded theory to investigate the opinions of practicing clinicians regarding the use of Telehealth. The study involved conducting semi-structured interviews with physicians who were using or might in the future use Telehealth in their practice. This study was designed to assess the major advantages and shortcomings that Telehealth has to offer in the field of medicine. The research found that clinicians predominantly had a very positive view of Telehealth, although some minor concerns were expressed with respect to the use of Telehealth in private offices and the home (rather than in the hospital). The data indicated that Telehealth can improve overall patient care by bettering the speed and accuracy of communication and diagnosis and the subsequent treatment of patients, saving physicians and patients time and money, reducing waiting lists, aiding the environment, reducing emergency visits and hospitalizations, addressing shortages of physicians (particularly in rural areas), increasing access to specialists, and enabling convenient distance education. These are just some of the many benefits of Telehealth which outweigh its disadvantages. This study also was designed to extract clinicians’ opinions on avenues for improving Telehealth, which thus led to implications for future research. Barriers to the use of Telehealth were found to include concerns about security and IT support, lack of public knowledge of Telehealth’s existence, and installation and maintenance costs for the necessary equipment in the private sector. The study suggests that Telehealth will become more widely available and accessible to the general public. The study also proposes that, through increased governmental support and funding, Telehealth should be advertised and promoted, researched in more depth (in part, to discourage misconceptions regarding Telehealth), collaborated on by stakeholders, and expanded.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/8038
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectTelehealthen_US
dc.subjectE-learningen_US
dc.subjectRural and remote healthen_US
dc.subjectTelephone consultation + physiciansen_US
dc.subjectVideoconferencingen_US
dc.subjectPhysicians + patients online communicationen_US
dc.subjectDistance educationen_US
dc.subjectPhysicians online consultingen_US
dc.titleApplications of telehealth in the practice, upgrading of knowledge, and communication of physicians with their colleagues and patients in Canadaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Vahedi-Irandokht-Master of Health Information Science.pdf
Size:
1.97 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.74 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.