Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Enhanced Telemedicine and e-Health pp 27–39Cite as

Telemedicine in the Current New Normal: Opportunities and Barriers

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing ((STUDFUZZ,volume 410))

Abstract

The prominence and potentials of telemedicine as an appropriate and efficient instrument for addressing, improving, and sustaining health becomes apparent in the current new normal. A blended approach comprising both classical and telemedicine practices is going to be the current new normal in healthcare. Therefore, the authors explore telemedicine at a glance and the roles of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in telemedicine. Furthermore, success factors, opportunities, and barriers concerning telemedicine implementations are discussed in the chapter. In this context, theoretical and practical inferences are also presented. The chapter discusses success factors and underlines the promising future empowered by recent IoT and AI technologies. The current COVID-19 pandemic and characteristics of Generation Y and Z are significant opportunities. Legislation and regulation issues, inequalities regarding access, and infrastructure costs are seen as the main barriers. The authors comprehensively reviewed the pertinent literature and applications and discussed the relevant issues by incorporating their views and judgments. This chapter contributes to the body of knowledge concerning telemedicine practices empowered with IoT and AI in the current new normal, success factors, opportunities, and barriers. This contribution improves the pertinent knowledge and is going to be valuable for relevant researchers and policymakers in ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of telemedicine practices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. J.E. Scherger, Medical informatics, the internet, and telemedicine, in Family Medicine, ed. by R.B. Taylor, A.K. David, S.A. Fields, D.M. Phillips, J.E. Scherger (Springer, New York, 2003), pp. 1097–1100. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-21744-4_127

  2. Y. David, Telehealth, telemedicine, and telecare, in Clinical Engineering Handbook, 2nd edn. (Elsevier, 2019), pp. 550–555. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813467-2.00083-3

  3. World Health Organization, Telemedicine: opportunities and developments in member states. Report on the second global survey on eHealth (World Health Organization, Geneva, 2010)

    Google Scholar 

  4. WHO Group Consultation on Health Telematics, A health telematics policy in support of WHO’s Health-for-all strategy for global health development: report of the WHO Group Consultation on Health Telematics (Switzerland, Geneva, 1997)

    Google Scholar 

  5. M.D. Hagen, Medical informatics, the internet, and telemedicine, in Family Medicine (Springer, New York, 2020), pp. 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0779-3_51-2

  6. D. Hailey, Telemedicine (2019). http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_456-1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_456-1

  7. A.G. Ekeland, A. Bowes, S. Flottorp, Effectiveness of telemedicine: a systematic review of reviews. Int. J. Med. Informatics 79, 736–771 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2010.08.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. J.H. Mahar, G.J. Rosencrance, P.A. Rasmussen, Telemedicine: past, present, and future. Clevel. Clin. J. Med. 85, 938–942 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3949/ccjm.85a.17062

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. World Health Organization, Global diffusion of eHealth: making universal health coverage achievable (Report of the third global survey on eHealth, Geneva, 2016)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Z. Grossman, G. Chodick, S.M. Reingold, G. Chapnick, S. Ashkenazi, The future of telemedicine visits after COVID-19: perceptions of primary care pediatricians. Isr. J. Health Policy Res. 9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-020-00414-0

  11. A.S. Albahri, J.K. Alwan, Z.K. Taha, S.F. Ismail, R.A. Hamid, A.A. Zaidan, O.S. Albahri, B.B. Zaidan, A.H. Alamoodi, M.A. Alsalem, IoT-based telemedicine for disease prevention and health promotion: state-of-the-art. J. Netw. Comput. Appl. 173 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2020.102873

  12. T.H. Kim, H.H. Lee, Is telemedicine a worldwide trend? Arch. Gynecol. Obstet. 289, 925–926 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-014-3172-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. H.v. Nguyen, G.S.W. Tan, R.J. Tapp, S. Mital, D.S.W. Ting, H.T. Wong, C.S. Tan, A. Laude, E.S. Tai, N.C. Tan, E.A. Finkelstein, T.Y. Wong, E.L. Lamoureux, Cost-effectiveness of a national telemedicine diabetic retinopathy screening program in Singapore. Ophthalmology 123, 2571–2580 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.08.021

  14. Regional Committee for the Western Pacific: Harnessing e-health for improved service delivery., Manila: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  15. World Health Organization: World health statistics 2020: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals., Geneva (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  16. J. Portnoy, M. Waller, T. Elliott, Telemedicine in the era of COVID-19. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. Pract. vol. 8 (2020), pp, 1489–1491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2020.03.008

  17. M. Waller, C. Stotler, Telemedicine: a primer. Curr. Allergy Asthma Rep. 18 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-018-0808-4

  18. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and & Peetso, Terje.: Telemedicine: the time to hesitate is over! Eurohealth 20, 15–17 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  19. S. Zeadally, O. Bello, Harnessing the power of internet of things based connectivity to improve healthcare. Int. Things (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2019.100074

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. V. Mahajan, T. Singh, C. Azad, Using telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ind. Pediatr 57, 658–661 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-020-1895-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. B. Moazzami, N. Razavi-Khorasani, A. Dooghaie Moghadam, E. Farokhi, N. Rezaei, COVID-19 and telemedicine: immediate action required for maintaining healthcare providers well-being. J. Clinic. Virol. 126 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104345

  22. S.A. Kamal, M. Shafiq, P. Kakria, Investigating acceptance of telemedicine services through an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). Technol. Soc. 60 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.101212

  23. C. Scott Kruse, P. Karem, K. Shifflett, L. Vegi, K. Ravi, M. Brooks, Evaluating barriers to adopting telemedicine worldwide: a systematic review. J. Telemed. Telecare 24, 4–12 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X16674087

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. M.J. Newton, The promise of telemedicine. Surv. Ophthalmol. 59, 559–567 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.survophthal.2014.02.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Z.M. Temesgen, D.C. DeSimone, M. Mahmood, C.R. Libertin, B.R. Varatharaj Palraj, E.F. Berbari, Health care after the COVID-19 pandemic and the influence of telemedicine. Mayo Clin. Proc. 95, S66–S68 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.06.052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. J. Vidal-Alaball, R. Acosta-Roja, N. PastorHernández, U. SanchezLuque, D. Morrison, S. NarejosPérez, J. Perez-Llano, A. Salvador Vèrges, F. López Seguí, Telemedicine in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aten. Primaria 52, 418–422 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aprim.2020.04.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. S.N. Gajarawala, J.N. Pelkowski, Telehealth benefits and barriers. J. Nurse Pract. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2020.09.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. G.A. Pramesha Chandrasiri, M.N. Halgamuge, C. Subhashi Jayasekara, A comparative study in the application of IoT in health care: data security in telemedicine, in Security, Privacy and Trust in the IoT Environment ed. by Z. Mahmood (Springer International Publishing, 2019), pp. 181–202. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18075-1_9

  29. C.C. Gillman-Wells, T.K. Sankar, S. Vadodaria, COVID-19 reducing the risks: telemedicine is the new norm for surgical consultations and communications. Aesthetic Plast. Surg. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-020-01907-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. S.S. Raykar, V.N. Shet, Design of healthcare system using IoT enabled application. Mater. Today Proc. 23, 62–67 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. A.M. Rizzi, W.S. Polachek, M. Dulas, J.A. Strelzow, K.K. Hynes, The new ‘normal’: rapid adoption of telemedicine in orthopaedics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Injury (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2020.09.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Rutledge, G.W., Wood, J.C.: Virtual health and artificial intelligence: Using technology to improve healthcare delivery. In: Human-Machine Shared Contexts. pp. 169–175. Elsevier (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-820543-3.00008-0

  33. S. Singla, AI and IoT in healthcare, in Internet of Things Use Cases for the Healthcare Industry, ed. by P. Raj, J. Chatterjee, A. Kumar, B. Balamurugan (Springer, Cham, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37526-3_1

  34. G.E. Dafoulas, G. Pierris, S. Martinez, L. Kvistgaard Jensen, K. Kidholm, Adaptation of the model for assessment of telemedicine (MAST) for IoT telemedicine services, in Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population ed. by J. Zhou, G. Salvendy. Applications, Services and Contexts. ITAP 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Springer, Cham, 2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58536-9_27

  35. D.M. Mann, J. Chen, R. Chunara, P.A. Testa, O. Nov, D. Mann, COVID-19 transforms health care through telemedicine: evidence from the field. J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 27, 1132–1138 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa072

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. B. Calton, N. Abedini, M. Fratkin, Telemedicine in the time of coronavirus. J. Pain Symptom Manage. 60, e12–e14 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.03.019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. L. de Michieli, L. de Mattos, D. Caldwell, G. Metta, R. Cingolani, Technol. Telemed. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_545-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. S. Mohapatra, S. Mohanty, S. Mohanty, Smart healthcare: an approach for ubiquitous healthcare management using IoT, in Big Data Analytics for Intelligent Healthcare Management (Elsevier, 2019), pp. 175–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-818146-1.00007-6

  39. M. Rath, V.K. Solanki, Performance improvement in contemporary health care using IoT allied with big data, in Handbook of Data Science Approaches for Biomedical Engineering (Elsevier, 2020), pp. 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818318-2.00004-0

  40. A.K. Sarangi, A.G. Mohapatra, T.C. Mishra, B. Keswani, Healthcare 4.0: A voyage of fog computing with iot, cloud computing, big data, and machine learning, in Signals and Communication Technology (Springer, 2021), pp. 177–210. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46197-3_8

  41. Y. Zhai, A call for addressing barriers to telemedicine: health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychother. Psychosom. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1159/000509000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. K.C. Williams, R.A. Page, A.R. Petrosky, E.H. Hernandez, Multi-generational marketing: descriptions, characteristics, lifestyles, and attitudes. J. Appl. Bus. Econ. 11 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  43. R. Bashshur, C.R. Doarn, J.M. Frenk, J.C. Kvedar, J.O. Woolliscroft, Telemedicine and the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons for the future. Telemed. e-Health 26, 571–573 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.29040.rb

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. J.E. Hollander, B.G. Carr, Virtually perfect? Telemedicine for Covid-19. N. Engl. J. Med. 382, 1679–1681 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2003539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. G. Ortega, J.A. Rodriguez, L.R. Maurer, E.E. Witt, N. Perez, A. Reich, D.W. Bates, Telemedicine, COVID-19, and disparities: policy implications. Health Policy Technol. 9, 368–371 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.08.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. N.O. Foni, L.A.V. Costa, L.M.R. Velloso, C.H.S. Pedrotti, Telemedicine: Is It a tool for orthopedics? Curr. Rev. Musculoskelet. Med. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-020-09680-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. A.B. Dua, A. Kilian, R. Grainger, S.A. Fantus, Z.S. Wallace, F. Buttgereit, B.L. Jonas, Challenges, collaboration, and innovation in rheumatology education during the COVID-19 pandemic: leveraging new ways to teach. Clin. Rheumatol. 39, 3535–3541 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-05449-x

  48. M.S. Marcolino, J.A.Q. Oliveira, M. D’Agostino, A.L. Ribeiro, M.B.M. Alkmim, D. Novillo-Ortiz, The impact of mHealth interventions: systematic review of systematic reviews. JMIR mHealth uHealth 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.8873

  49. V. Saliba, H. Legido-Quigley, R. Hallik, A. Aaviksoo, J. Car, M. McKee, Telemedicine across borders: a systematic review of factors that hinder or support implementation. Int. J. Med. Infor. 81, 793–809 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2012.08.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. C. Scott Kruse, P. Karem, K. Shifflett, L. Vegi, K. Ravi, M. Brooks, Evaluating Barriers Adopting Telemed. Worldwide A Syst. Rev. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X16674087

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. S. Ye, I. Kronish, E. Fleck, P. Fleischut, S. Homma, D. Masini, N. Moise, Telemedicine expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for technology-driven disparities. J. Gen. Intern. Med. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06322-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. D.H. Jaffe, L. Lee, S. Huynh, T.P. Haskell, Health inequalities in the use of telehealth in the United States in the lens of COVID-19. Popul. Health Manag. 23, 368–377 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1089/pop.2020.0186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. E. Ray Dorsey, E.J. Topol, Telemedicine 2020 and the next decade. Lancet 395, 859–859 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30424-4

  54. J. Wosik, M. Fudim, B. Cameron, Z.F. Gellad, A. Cho, D. Phinney, S. Curtis, M. Roman, E.G. Poon, J. Ferranti, J.N. Katz, J. Tcheng, Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care. J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 27, 957–962 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa067

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Y.S. Hau, J.K. Kim, J. Hur, M.C. Chang, How about actively using telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic? J. Med. Syst. 44 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-020-01580-z

  56. S. Omboni, Telemedicine During the COVID-19 in Italy: a missed opportunity? Telemed. J. e-health 26, 973–975 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.0106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. K.L. Rockwell, A.S. Gilroy, Incorporating telemedicine as part of COVID-19 outbreak response systems. Am. J. Manag. Care. 26, 147–148 (2020). https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2020.42784

  58. T. Antipova, Coronavirus pandemic as Black Swan Event, in Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems (Springer, 2021), pp. 356–366. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49264-9_32

  59. P. Pointer, The rise of telemedicine: how to mitigate potential fraud. Comput. Fraud Secur. 6, 6–8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1361-3723(20)30061-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. W. Jiang, A.E. Magit, D. Carvalho, Equal access to telemedicine during COVID-19 pandemic: a pediatric otolaryngology perspective. Laryngoscope. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.29164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. F. Segato, C. Masella, Telemedicine services: how to make them last over time. Health Policy Technol. 6, 268–278 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2017.07.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. N.R. Armfield, S. Edirippulige, L.J. Caffery, N.K. Bradford, J.W. Grey, A.C. Smith, Telemedicine—a bibliometric and content analysis of 17,932 publication records. Int. J. Med. Inform. 83, 715–725 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2014.07.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Informatics of the Middle East Technical University, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

    Mustafa Degerli & Sevgi Ozkan-Yildirim

Authors
  1. Mustafa Degerli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sevgi Ozkan-Yildirim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mustafa Degerli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnic of Coimbra, ESTGOH, Rua General Santos Costa, Oliveira do Hospital, Coimbra, Portugal

    Gonçalo Marques

  2. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Majhitar, Sikkim, India

    Akash Kumar Bhoi

  3. University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Isabel de la Torre Díez

  4. Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao, Vizcaya, Spain

    Begonya Garcia-Zapirain

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Degerli, M., Ozkan-Yildirim, S. (2021). Telemedicine in the Current New Normal: Opportunities and Barriers. In: Marques, G., Kumar Bhoi, A., de la Torre Díez, I., Garcia-Zapirain, B. (eds) Enhanced Telemedicine and e-Health. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol 410. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70111-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation