Telemedicine allows health care professionals to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients at a distance using telecommunications technology. The approach has been through a striking evolution in the last decade and it is becoming an increasingly important.

1. Telecommunication systems Potentialities,
barriers, and applications
Dr. Shazia Iqbal
Assistant Professor
Director of Medical Education
Unit
Faculty of Medicine
Alfarabi College of Medicine,
Riyadh
siqbal@alfarabi.edu.sa
View my Linkedin Profile
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4890-5864

2. Telemedicine allows health care professionals to
evaluate, diagnose and treat patients at a distance
using telecommunications technology.
The approach has been through a striking
evolution in the last decade and it is becoming an
increasingly important.

3. Successful telemedicine requires
appropriate equipment and some kind
of telecommunications medium.
However, successful telemedicine
requires more than just technology.
The three essential components are the
personnel, the technology and a liberal
measure of perseverance.

4. Before the technology can be selected, it is
necessary to consider the nature of the
information to be transmitted between the
sites and the time frame over which it must
be sent to achieve the desired clinical goals,
because this will determine the choice of
equipment and the telecommunications
network.

5. The choice of transmission method for any
telemedicine application is, in practice, a compromise
between what one would like and what one can
afford. In practice, various trade-offs have to be
made, which include cost, availability of the service,
bandwidth, reliability and quality of service.
Equipment and the telecommunications medium are
a necessary, but not sufficient, pre-requisite for a
successful telemedicine programme.
The right people are also required and they must be
properly trained.

6. potentialities of using Telecommunication
networks on the Telemedicine

7. The aim of this initiative is to establish a Saudi
network of medicine outreach to supervise the
operation and maintenance in order to link facilities
specialized health care with primary health care
centers and hospitals in remote areas in the medical
systems communication which will enhance the
delivery of health care services of high quality and
cost effective, irrespective of the geographical
location, size of the Treaty.

8.  The use of 5G network in telemedicine :
• Because of its super speed and robustness, 5G will
accelerate telehealth’s development. But there is
more.
• 5G can also support massive Internet of Things and
smart city infrastructure. As a result, it will propel the
growth of home healthcare, remote patient
monitoring, remote and robotic surgery assistance,
and smart city infrastructure. Patients and healthy
individuals alike will see direct impact to their well-
being and available resources for health management.

9. Barrier’s

10. Telemedicine services have expanded from providing
health care services at hospitals, outpatient
departments, and specialist offices, as well as
between health care providers, to deliver care at
patients’ homes.
How ever although of all these benefit's it also have
barrier's

11. 1- Older patients and technology
Barriers to telemedicine include lack of technology or
the knowledge to use it.
Older patients might worry more about privacy.

12. 2- Service Awareness
If patients aren't aware of the telemedicine services,
then the service won't get used.
That's why it's important to plan via content marketing
and social media marketing to get the word out.

13. 3- Patients’ Lack of Technical Skills
When patients don't understand how to use
telemedicine services, it can reduce utilization and
accessibility. It’s a good idea to make tutorials of
how to use this service and by which device and
asking which devices they would be most
comfortable using when accessing to telemedicine
services.
Also its important to train the staff on using
telemedicine equipment, so they also can help
patients who require assistance.

14. 4- Expensive Technology
High cost of telecommunications equipment's ,data
management and technical training for the technicians
When add up the cost of equipment and the cost of services to
provide care, telemedicine expenses can be a concern to
physicians, hospitals and medical practices. may be able to
reduce expenses by opting for bundled services or those that
offer a flat fee, while keeping in mind that as the use of
telemedicine continues to grow, technology expenses and service
costs will continue to go down.
Telemedicine services also are helping patients cut down on their
costs for in-person visits and ER visits, the latter potentially
saving 25% on the coast of ER staff .

15. 5- Privacy Concerns
Decrease patient information's privacy due to
electronic storage and transmission.
Telemedicine services can be convenient, but they
can also provide a gateway to security and privacy
issues, while accessing patient data over the
Internet.
You have to be sure you are messaging them across
a secure connection.

16. 6- Technical problems
Poor quality of the sending pictures or video
records or patients progress reports , low access to
clinical information's.
Another disadvantage of telemedicine is the
inability to start treatment right away. For example,
a patient suffering from a bacterial infection can
take an antibiotic by injection under the skin at the
clinic, noting any reaction, before the antibiotic is
prescribed in pill form.

17. 7- Physician Licensing
In theory , telemedicine would allow cross-state
consultations that would allow specialists to help
more patients . However, physicians face several
telemedicine and telehealth challenges if they wish
to practice in another state, including regulations
that vary state-by-state. In some cases, practitioners
may need a full medical license in both the state
they live in and the state where the patient resides.

18. 8- Limited Access to Internet
The lack of access to broadband Internet
divorces communities "rural and remote areas"
from not just healthcare resources but
educational and employment opportunities as
well .

19. 9- Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis happens often in in-person health
care, but the risks increase with telehealth.
Misdiagnosis has the potential to drive up
overall costs to the general health care system
as well, because misdiagnoses leads to wrong
prescriptions and treatments. According to the
CDC, one third of antibiotics prescriptions are
already unnecessary.

20. Additionally, if a telehealth service cannot determine a
diagnosis, the patient may be counseled to go to an ER
or an urgent care service. If these visits are
unnecessary, they may result in a large cost to both the
patient and the system as a whole.

22. 1-Hotline 937 Services:
• Receive all calls from patients about MoH-related
health aspect.
• Receive and monitor patients' notifications, settle
them as soon as possible anytime and anywhere across
our beloved homeland and follow them up according
international standards.
• Provide 24/7 medical consultation through doctors.
• Offer key advices and guidelines for poisoning cases.
• Receive all complaints and feedback.

23. 2-«Tabaud» App:
«Tabaud» App is one of technical solutions, develop ed to
track Coronavirus spread.
The App allows its users to know if they had contact with
people confirmed to be infected with Coronavirus.
Also, it sends proactive notifications to users, if any confirmed
cases is detected through the App. during the past fourteen
days, while maintaining data confidentiality.
3-«Tawakkalna» App:
is developed to show the health status of its users through
colored codes at the highest degree of safety and privacy.
The App also allows individuals to contribute to breaking the
chain of infection by reporting infected cases or gatherings
that violate the adopted precautionary measures.

24. 4-Mawid App:
The E-Appointment «Mawid» App enables patients to
book their appointments in primary healthcare centers
in coordination with the concerned department. Hence,
patients can book, amend or cancel their appointments
at any hospital where they were referred through a
seamless channel offered by this App.
5-Mawared App:
The Enterprise Resource Planning «Mawared» App is
designed to provide official self-services to MOH’s staff.
The App serves as the single official channel to apply for
all types of leaves, including annual, sick and casual.
Through this App., MOH’s staff will be able to submit
their applications for office resumption, assignments.

25. Video

26. • Reference:
• https://chironhealth.com/telemedicine/what-is-telemedicine/
• https://nhic.gov.sa/en/Initiatives/Pages/communicationmedicine.aspx
• https://www.digi.com/blog/post/5g-and-the-future-of-telemedicine-
remote-surgery
• https://telemedicine.arizona.edu/blog/7-telemedicine-concerns-and-
how-overcomthem
• https://www.jmir.org/2020/2/e16407/
• https://evisit.com/resources/barriers-to-telemedicine-and-how-to-solve-
them/
• https://www.globalmed.com/2020-roadmap-overcoming-telemedicine-
barriers/
• https://healthinformatics.uic.edu/blog/challenges-facing-the-telehealth-
industry/
• https://www.moh.gov.sa/Support/Pages/MobileApp.aspx