E-health systems are emerging as an approach in many developed countries, such as the United States. They enable improved patient information processing with reduced error rates while also sharing and communicating knowledge between different specialists effectively. However, globally, the adoption of the software has been slow, and many countries have not yet begun the transition process, instead relying on traditional systems.
There is a number of obstacles to the change, such as the costs of doing so and a lack of awareness about the advantages of e-health systems. However, these nations would still benefit from the improvement offered by the system in the long term through changes such as a reduction in the necessary paperwork and the upgrades listed above. As such, solutions for overcoming these challenges should be considered and possibly implemented on a global scale.
To overcome the barriers to the implementation of e-health, it is first necessary to understand what they are. Mauco et al. (2019) find four essential issues that need to be considered: governance, stakeholder issues, resources, and access.
In many nations, healthcare is a public service controlled by the government, which would also make the decision regarding the e-health transition. As a stakeholder, a government is unlikely to agree to pay for a shift with benefits it does not understand, and many medical workers do not acknowledge the advantages, either. The money issue is particularly pertinent for developing and poor nations, as they can not necessarily spare the investment required for a nationwide transition. Lastly, the final barrier to care is access to electricity and the Internet, both of which are necessary for e-health but are lacking in rural communities.
Governance and stakeholder problems need to be resolved through widespread advocacy on all levels, aiming to explain the benefits of e-health. By raising the issue on the government level while convincing individual medical workers, it may be possible to create a sufficient movement for the adoption of e-health to drive the government to take action. The resource issue can be partially addressed through the aid of international organizations such as the UN. Additionally, further development in e-health software that makes it more affordable and accessible would be highly beneficial.
With regard to access, Miah et al. (2017) propose a cloud-based solution that specifically targets rural and remote communities. It offers on-demand consultancy to local specialists that helps them develop treatments for residents’ various conditions without needing to travel. As a result, once the framework is sufficiently developed, non-specialized workers will be able to provide care for their communities using e-health advances.
E-health adoption in developing nations is struggling because of the constraints on resources and awareness as well as an overall inability to implement it in many locations. Economic development, or lack thereof, is frequently at the center of the issue, and it is a problem that cannot be addressed quickly. As such, in most cases, it is highly unlikely that e-health will be adopted soon. To increase the speed of the process, active advocacy and possibly financial assistance from external entities are necessary. With that said, it is a more appropriate option to develop specialized solutions that cater to the current needs of developing and poor nations until they can grow sufficiently on their own. E-health systems that specifically target rural communities, such as the one described above, are among solutions most likely to attain satisfactory results.
References
Mauco, K. L., Scott, R. E., & Mars, M. (2019). Development of an eHealth readiness assessment framework for Botswana and other developing countries: Interview study. JMIR Medical Informatics, 7(3). Web.
Miah, S. J., Hasan, J., & Gammack, J. G. (2017). On-cloud healthcare clinic: An e-health consultancy approach for remote communities in a developing country. Telematics and Informatics, 34(1), 311-322. Web.