Researchers at Charles University Publish New Data on Telemedicine (Development of telemedicine in the Czech Republic from patients’ and other key stakeholders’ perspective): Telemedicine

2023 NOV 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in telemedicine. According to news reporting originating from Charles University by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Telemedicine is a way to improve healthcare outcomes with greater efficiency for both patients and care providers. The great potential of digital technologies also lies in strengthening the patient-centered approach.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Charles University: “The early successes and benefits of telemedicine in the Czech Republic, amplified by the COVID-19, have contributed to the fact that wider implementation of telemedicine is already generally supported at the expert and public levels. Our research focuses on the identification of key issues in the implementation of telemedicine and the challenges of telemedicine in the future, from the perspective of patients and other stakeholders. The study is based on a qualitative research approach, combining focus groups with key stakeholders, patient panels and expert panels (2021-2022). The lack of rules and uncoordinated development of various activities proved to be the main barriers to the integration of telemedicine in the health system. This regulatory uncertainty can generate a number of problems in the patient-doctor relationship in practice, including ethical ones, and can also lead to inequalities in access to healthcare and affect the overall quality of care provided. Furthermore, it has been shown that patients’ interests in the implementation of telemedicine are: 1. a predictable and reliable framework that guarantees them certainty and security in the provision of telemedicine services, 2. telemedicine solutions that increase the availability and efficiency of the care provided while bringing comfort, and 3. user-friendly and simple solutions. At the same time, patients want to understand the new environment and be active participants in the process of digital innovation, including the practical implementation of telemedicine. The research team has developed recommendations for further developments in the implementation of telemedicine that reflect the patient’s interest and can be implemented at three levels - the health system, institutional, and community level.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “In countries with a well-developed and institutionalized patient movement, the community level can be represented by patient organizations, thus becoming the link between telemedicine policy making and implementation at the individual level of healthcare provision. For the further development of telemedicine, the development of a national strategy involving all key stakeholders, including patients, in the implementation has proven essential.”

For more information on this research see: Development of telemedicine in the Czech Republic from patients’ and other key stakeholders’ perspective. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023,11. (Frontiers in Public Health - http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/public-health). The publisher for Frontiers in Public Health is Frontiers Media S.A.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1202182.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jolana Kopsa Tesinova, Institute of Public Health and Medical Law, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia. Additional authors for this research include Karolina Dobiašova, Zdenek Dušek, Alena Tobiašova.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)