Providers Expectations on Telemedicine: A Qualitative Research in a Large Healthcare Network of Latin America

UNLABELLED The benefits of Telemedicine make it a viable, reliable and useful discipline for dispensing health care. This qualitative study is aimed to understand the expectations, opinions and previous knowledge of the professionals about telemedicine at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires. RESULTS Professionals realize that Telemedicine is inserted into their usual practice in an informal way. They consider telemedicine as an alternative to the traditional delivery of health care, but are afraid of their role in health care is undermined. Professionals point out very specific applications of Telemedicine such as monitoring the health of patients remotely, drug doses adjustments and sharing clinical information. CONCLUSION Results suggest that professionals are not familiar with telemedicine and will be necessary to develop a training plan before implementation.