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Factors Hindering The Adoption Of Teleradiology Services

By Karen Butler


Teleradiology is increasingly becoming common due to the advancements in technology. It is now accessible globally through the world wide web. The advancements seen in the information technology industry have created a global office workforce that can operate 24 hours a day. This has seen radiology works follow the sun as radiologists offer teleradiology services to hospital staff working night shift in another part of the world.

The recent advancements in information technology have made it possible for radiology services to be delivered across time zones and geographical regions. The best application of the service is through facilitating prompt responses, especially in emergency situations. This allows an off-site radiologist to offer timely diagnosis resulting to timely administration of the appropriate treatment to the patient.

Several applications have also been developed that have led to an increase in service delivery. E-commerce platforms have been developed to include payment, communication, and work flow monitoring services. This has led to the automation of the routing, billing and payment processes.

The most common application of the service with this platform is seen to be in large hospitals, remote clinics, and even emergency rooms. One radiologist is able to simultaneously connect to several client hospitals especially during the night shift and offer this service. This has led to increased cost savings and efficiency as the client hospitals have reduced their need for hiring additional night shift personnel.

Many benefits have been noted with the introduction of teleradiology. However, most hospitals are still facing challenges in adopting this great advancement thereby limiting the kind of care they are providing to the patients. Some of the challenges are technology related. The equipment being used requires a certain type of skill and not many technicians are available to offer this service. Reliable internet is also a challenge for most countries and this affected the adoption of the service in remote locations.

The process of acquiring a radiology consultant has also been a barrier to the rapid adoption of the service. Most of the licensing requirements and board certifications in the client hospitals require an appointment or physical meeting with the consulting radiologist before engaging him or her. This is the current regulatory structure that needs to be addressed for the medical service to be adopted with ease.

Medical liability laws also differ in most of the countries. This creates a gap where the implication of the service delivery is not clearly understood. This tends to impact the service negatively. There is a need for the laws to be streamlined with changes in globalization. Some liability claims have been noted so far in the transmission of wrong data as well as incorrect use of the equipment and this ends up affecting the service delivery.

The confidentiality and security of the data being transmitted across the network is a major concern in the service delivery. In order to prevent unauthorized access to the information on patients, both locations need to set up adequate safeguarding measures. The information needs to be encrypted to secure the image data while also maintaining its reliability. The security measures needed are a major barrier to the adoption of the service especially in the remote locations.




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