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Telemedicine: The Use of Information Technology to Support Rural Caregiving

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Rural Caregiving in the United States

Part of the book series: Caregiving: Research, Practice, Policy ((CARE))

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Abstract

Nowhere is information technology potentially more critical in the redesign of the health-care delivery system than in rural and frontier areas (Institute of Medicine, 2004), where it has the potential to dramatically change the way caregiving occurs. We are moving from health-care systems aimed at providing episodic institutional care for the treatment of illnesses to information-based systems seeking to promote increased consumer and caregiver involvement in the prevention of illness across the life span. Rural and frontier providers and caregivers are often faced with the need to provide a broad scope of practice with regard to medical condition, age, socioeconomic level, culture, and gender (Rosenthal & Fox, 2000). This occurs in an environment with far fewer specialty consultants and ancillary resources, and where a higher threshold for referral to larger centers may exist because of distance and economics (Rosenblatt & Hart, 1999).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Peter Yellowlees MBBS, MD & Stacey Cole BS

  2. Administration and Clinical Outreach, 4610 X Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Thomas Nesbitt M.D., MPH

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  1. Peter Yellowlees MBBS, MD
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  2. Thomas Nesbitt M.D., MPH
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  3. Stacey Cole BS
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Correspondence to Peter Yellowlees MBBS, MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Comple, Western Kentucky University, 14th Street 104, Bowling Green, 42101, Kentucky, USA

    Ronda C. Talley

  2. Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 62901, Illinois, USA

    Kathleen Chwalisz

  3. College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Newton Road 50, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA

    Kathleen C. Buckwalter

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Yellowlees, P., Nesbitt, T., Cole, S. (2011). Telemedicine: The Use of Information Technology to Support Rural Caregiving. In: Talley, R., Chwalisz, K., Buckwalter, K. (eds) Rural Caregiving in the United States. Caregiving: Research, Practice, Policy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0302-9_9

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