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Sunday, September 16, 2018

By Karen Butler


The information technology service industry has impacted the global work environment by creating a workforce that is able to operate 24 hours a day. Advancements in telemedicine have been pioneered especially in the field of teleradiology. A radiology in one part of the world is able to offer teleradiology services to hospital staff working night shift in another part of the world.

The services are being offered across different continents in different time zones all over the world. The best case scenarios have been noted in emergency situations where a radiologist is able to offer a diagnosis timely resulting in the best treatment being offered to the patient. This has been enabled through the advancements in information technology.

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 between countries. There is a gap that remains unclear when it comes to delivery of radiology services across such countries. Liability claims have also been made over incorrect use of the equipment as well wrongful transmission of data leading to a wrong diagnosis.

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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