Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2004. / Includes bibliography.

published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

The World Health Organization has recommended Telemedicine to improve health care in developing countries. The objective of this study was to produce Critical Success Factors that will investigate and identify factors that influence the acceptance and continued use of Telemedicine in the Eastern Cape Department of Health, and to suggest ways to sustain this technology from initial adoption (the pilot programme) to full adoption. Sub questions investigated which other facilitating factors, such as management support or previous Information Technology exposure must be present in order for the technology to be adopted successfully. The study made use of a questionnaire to investigate the user acceptance and behaviour of health care workers. A return rate of 76% was achieved. The data was analysed making use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), specifically the Chi Square test. From these results Critical Success Factors where then formulated to address the problems identified. The Critical Success Factors that were identified include: Implement and disseminate best practice within a legislative framework; Find a champion; Change management strategies; Training; Sustainable finance; Technical issues and Project management principles If these CSFs are addressed before and during the implementation of Telemedicine it will increase the acceptance and use of the technology among health care workers. Critical Success Factors for User Acceptance of Telemedicine in South Africa.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 605-626). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

On September 8 2000, world leaders gathered at the United Nations summit and resolved to help citizens in the world's poorest countries to achieve a better life by the year 2015. This resolve was outlined in the Millennium Development Goals that were subsequently published with goals 4, 5 and 6 specific to healthcare. The integration of ICT‘s in the remote delivery of services has opened new avenues from which centralised, scarce resources can be accessed remotely for the benefit of the general population. Telemedicine has made great strides in the developed world with remote populations benefiting from the improved access to healthcare. In the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, the sub-field of teleradiology has shown promise for enabling the wider delivery of specialist services. However, in resource constrained settings such as developing countries, telemedicine has had limited success and as a result, the equitable access to healthcare for remote populations remains inconceivable. This is exacerbated by the migration of healthcare professionals both domestically and internationally. The public sector has suffered the most with acute staff shortages in the public healthcare institutions, more so in rural and remote areas. This study identifies the prevailing challenges posing as barriers to the effective use of telemedicine services in the Public health sector in resource constrained settings and provides recommendations and guidelines aimed at facilitating the adoption and effective use of telemedicine. Challenges are identified from literature and from the first person accounts of specific role-players who are directly involved with telemedicine in their respective institutions. Participants are drawn from institutions offering telemedicine services within the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Challenges identified from literature are collated with those identified from the participant interviews to provide a concise list of factors that is used as input to the recommendation and guideline development process. The results thus far point to an enthusiastic environment coupled with a semi-capable infrastructure but however hampered by staff shortages and a general lack of support structures and propulsion mechanisms to adequately encourage the wider use of telemedicine. The proposed guidelines aim to address the challenges at the different role-player levels.

Population ageing has motivated policy makers around the world to focus on how best to organise health and social care services to meet an aniticipated growing demand on services. Two popular initiatives are reablement and telecare. Reablement is an approach within homecare that enables older individuals with social care needs to improve their functional performance and live independently. Telecare, on the other hand, involves use of devices to monitor individuals' health and safety, and provide response when needed. This thesis investigates the effectiveness of reablement and telecare by conducting a comprehensive review of the literature and undertaking three empirical studies. It is composed of six chapters. The first chapter presents a theoretical model that links the demand for reablement and telecare to various outcomes. The model is estimated using a strategy that controls for the effects of confounding variables and unobservable factors, and is general in the sense that it nests several other estimation strategies and study designs as special cases. The next chapter contains the literature review. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 present the three empirical studies. The first study investigates the effect of telecare on independent living at home; the second study determines the relationship between the use of telecare and admission to hospital, while the third study determines the relationship between telecare use and the length of stay in hospital. Chapter 6 concludes the thesis and provides some suggestions for further research. Unlike the results of the previous studies, the findings from this thesis suggest that the treatment effects are not homogenous across the poulation and also vary depending on the type of telecare device under consideration.