We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Exploring the challenges to using telecardiology as perceived by pre-hospital emergency care personnel: a qualitative study.
- Authors
Bijani, Mostafa; Abedi, Saeed; Zare, Azam; Tavacol, Ziba; Abadi, Fozieh; Alkamel, Abdulhakim
- Abstract
Background: Today, using the medical technology of telecardiology, as part of advanced medical services, plays an essential role in providing care to cardiac patients in life-threatening conditions who need emergency care. However, pre-hospital emergency care personnel are faced with certain challenges in using telecardiology, with adverse effects on their performance. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the challenges to using telecardiology as viewed by pre-hospital emergency care personnel in Southern Iran. Methods: The present study is a qualitative work of research with a content analysis approach. Selected using purposeful sampling, 19 pre-hospital emergency care personnel were interviewed on a semi-structured, personal, in-depth basis. The qualitative data obtained were analyzed using the Graneheim and Lundman's conventional content analysis approach (2004). Results: Based on the qualitative data analysis, 3 themes and 8 subthemes were obtained. The three main themes included professional barriers (lack of clinical knowledge of telecardiology, lack of clinical skill in telecardiology, violation of patients' privacy, lack of clinical guidelines on telecardiology), medical equipment and telecommunication barriers (poor reception and ineffective means of communication, low charge on the battery of tele-electrocardiogram machines), and organizational management barriers (serious lack of cardiologists available for medical counseling and lack of continual personal development of the telecardiology personnel). Conclusion: Senior managers in pre-hospital emergency care services are recommended to use the results of this study to identify the influential factors in using telecardiology and take the necessary measures to eliminate the existing barriers toward making optimal use of telemedicine, thereby improving the quality of care provided for cardiac patients.
- Subjects
IRAN; CARDIOLOGISTS; TELECOMMUNICATION equipment; CLINICAL competence; QUALITATIVE research; MEDICAL equipment; MEDICAL technology
- Publication
BMC Emergency Medicine, 2023, Vol 23, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1471-227X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/s12873-023-00913-8