See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319507223 Assessing the Information and Communication Technology Infrastructures of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in order to Implement the Telemedicine System in 2013 Article in Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects (IJELLO) · July 2014 CITATIONS READS 10 57 2 authors, including: Shahabeddin Abhari Tehran University of Medical Sciences 22 PUBLICATIONS 105 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Electronic Health Records View project Application of AI in diabetes mellitus View project All content following this page was uploaded by Shahabeddin Abhari on 06 September 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. An Assessment of Infrastructures of Telemedicine at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Ali Garavand1, Heshmatollah Asadi2, Mahnaz Samadbeik3, Mojtaba Hasumi4, Reza Mohammadi5, Shahabeddin Abhari6,7,* Received 18 Sep 2016 ; Accepted 11 Jan 2017 ABSTRACT Introduction: Telemedicine is defined as the ability to provide interactive health care by modern technologies and telecommunications which require related infrastructure and technologies. The aim of this study was to assess infrastructures of telemedicine at health centers, hospitals and clinics affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Method: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 2015 on health care facilities equipped with telemedicine. These facilities consisted of 15 health centers, three hospitals and two clinics which were studied through census sampling method. Data were collected using a standard checklist and analyzed using descriptive statistics through SPSS version 21. Results: All the studied centers used laptop platform, of which 95% (19 Centers) had camera platform and 80% had monitors with full HD resolution. Of all the centers, 14.44% used clinical facilities and equipment and 85% (17 centers) had required facilities to hold video conferences. Totally, there was 21.31% of the required communicational protocol to establish telemedicine. The average internet network bandwidth of health centers was 644.68 MB/S. Conclusion: According to the current condition of technical infrastructure of telemedicine, it is suggested that authorities make decisions and policies to develop and improve technical infrastructure for providing more advanced services in the field of telemedicine. Keywords: Telemedicine, Assessment, Technical infrastructure ►Please cite this paper as: Garavand A, Asadi H, Samadbeik M, Hasumi M, Mohammadi R, Abhari SH. An Assessment of Infrastructures of Telemedicine at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. J Health Man & Info. 2017;4(2):51-56. technologies to provide health care services in Introduction circumstances where spatial or time distance or both exist In all health care systems in which spatial distance is the between health care consumers and health care providers main factor, utilizing information and communication (3). technology to exchange valid information for diagnosing Telemedicine has been defined by the American institute and treating diseases, preventing injuries, performing of telemedicine as an exchange of information from one researches and assessments, and continuous education site to another through electronic communications for the of health care providers is inevitable (1). The emergence improvement of patients and providers’ level of education of health information technologies such as telemedicine (4). Furthermore, as telemedicine is cost-effective, it has played a key role in the timely diagnosis and is considered as an appropriate alternative for clinical treatment of diseases, especially in remote areas and interventions which prevent morbidity and mortality and villages (2). Telemedicine is a new field in which modern improve health level of a society (5). Although there is telecommunication technologies are used for exchanging a consensus among most of the researchers and experts medical information. The main idea of telemedicine is about the effectiveness of this technology in providing based on the use of information and communication specialized services and increasing access to these 1 Department of Health Information Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Health Information Technology, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran 4 Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 5 Department of Psychology, baqiattalah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 6 Department of Health Information Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 7 Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran *Corresponding Author: Sh Abhari , Department of Health Information Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Email: [email protected].. Garavand A et al. services, this technology is not considered as the ultimate In other countries, studies have also been conducted in the solution to overcome all the problems related to lack of field of telemedicine. Kodukula et al. (2011) in their study financial and human resources in the healthcare system. It on “evaluation of critical success factors for telemedicine is recommended that telemedicine should be considered as implementation” concluded that communication and a complementary solution to resolve some of the problems information technology infrastructures such as access in the way of providing high quality care services (6). to hardware and software infrastructure, adequate The most important advantages of telemedicine include network bandwidth, clear definition of telemedicine improvement of health care quality and productivity, referral mechanisms, and adequate well-trained human improvement of accessibility to medical care for rural resources are the most important factors in successful and underpreviledged areas, increase of justice in health, implementation of telemedicine. He mentioned other promotion of professional interaction among physicians critical success factors for telemedicine implementation and specialists (especially in rural and urban areas), as follows: Supporting regulations and policies of the reduction of costs, reduction of unnecessary traffic and government, political support, and availability of financial travels, reduction of patients’ traveling time, possibility resources (12). of working in several hospitals and health centers by In a study that reviewed the critical factors in successful specialists, increase of interactions and opinion exchanges implementation of telemedicine, the authors found that among physicians and specialists, and more importantly in addition to human resources, telecommunication lines reduction of mortality, morbidity and disabilities (7). and communications equipment are vital for successful Establishment of health information systems, implementation of telemedicine technology. They also especially telemedicine, requires related and necessary concluded that in all of hospitals in Malaysia only a few infrastructure (8); therefore, in developing countries are prepared and equipped for tele- medical consulting and providing theses infrastructures is the first thing that most of the hospitals lack these equipment (13). Therefore, should be accomplished. However, considering the the present study specifically assessed the infrastructures increasing development of telemedicine systems, of telemedicine at health centers, hospitals and clinics there is a need to formulate and develop new rules and affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. guidelines in such fields as information confidentiality, legal responsibility and commitment and the validity of Method documentation of medical records. In Iran, few studies This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 2015 have examined the telemedicine technical infrastructure on all health care facilities of Shiraz University of (9). Hayavi et al. in their study entitled “the feasibility of Medical Sciences equipped with telemedicine. It is implementing telemedicine in Hormozgan University of worth mentioning that information and communication Medical Sciences” concluded that all centers affiliated to technology management of Shiraz University of Medical Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences had access to Sciences equipped 20 affiliated health centers in Shiraz internet, and the network bandwidth for each center was and other cities (15 centers in cities as advice-receivers 128 KB/S. This University also lacked the required video and five centers in Shiraz as advice-givers) for setting conference equipment for telemedicine process which up telemedicine system. Considering the importance of showed that in terms of infrastructures, the University is studying all health care centers, they were enrolled in faced with the lack of network bandwidth, and it is only the study using census method. The studied health care able to provide telemedicine technology in a store and centers were as follows: located in cities including Lar, forward (asynchronous) mode (10). Eghlid, Safashahr, Kharame, Arsanjan, Firouz-Abad, Ghaed-Amini et al. in their study entitled “assessment of Mamasani, Abadeh, Neyriz, Kovar, Sarvestan, Khenj, telemedicine infrastructure in Shahr-e-Kord’s