Evaluating telemedicine: a focus on patient pathways

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Medical Informatics
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Existing telemedicine evaluations often focus on specific metrics like diagnostic accuracy, cost-efficiency, and patient satisfaction.
• There is a gap in understanding the broader organizational impact of telemedicine, including technology and process changes affecting adoption by patients and clinicians.
• Current research frequently views telemedicine in isolation rather than as an integrated component of a patient's healthcare journey.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review conceptual issues in telemedicine research.
• To propose a novel approach for evaluating telemedicine's organizational impact.
• To introduce a patient pathway perspective and simulation as tools for comprehensive telemedicine assessment.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and conceptual analysis of telemedicine research methodologies.
• Development of a patient pathway framework to analyze healthcare processes.
• Proposal of simulation as a method to model and understand patient journeys with and without telemedicine.

Main Results:

• Identified limitations in current telemedicine evaluation methods.
• Proposed a patient pathway perspective as a more holistic approach.
• Highlighted simulation as a valuable tool for understanding telemedicine's integration into healthcare.

Conclusions:

• A shift towards evaluating telemedicine within patient pathways is needed for a comprehensive understanding of its impact.
• Simulation offers a powerful method to analyze and optimize the integration of telemedicine into clinical workflows.
• Future research should adopt these broader perspectives to better assess telemedicine's true value and organizational integration.