Η τηλεϊατρική στην Ελλάδα και στην Ευρώπη. Εφαρμογές και προκλήσεις

Abstract

There has been a vast expansion of new technologies in the last decades, and the health sector could not have been left unaffected by them. E-health and telemedicine methods are developing and spreading, especially since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, enhancing - but not replacing - older methods and face-to-face contacts. This paper aims to highlight the importance of telemedicine applications, to present national and European trends, to review the applications and practices including their strengths and weaknesses, and, finally, to reflect on the challenges that need addressing. The research for this thesis was based on a review of the existing literature, focusing primarily on scholar articles on current trends, on information from official bodies in Greece and worldwide, and on reports. A limiting factor has been that telemedicine in Greece is at a very early stage, developed independently by individual institutions, which is something that shrinks the possibilities of finding and extracting usable aggregated information. However, a large expansion of the National Telemedicine Network (Greek acronym: ΕDΙΤ) is planned and will soon take place, which will contribute towards a better picture of telemedicine in the country, offering more aggregated data for analysis. Telemedicine applications increase accessibility to health services, particularly for people living in the provinces. Considering the country’s geophysical configuration, with its many islands and mountains, teleconsultation and telemonitoring methods can help improve the quality of both, health service provision and the communication on scientific matters among health professionals. However, for telemedicine services to reach their highest potential, it would require addressing challenges relating to the safety of sensitive health data, the training of providers and users, the introduction of a legislative framework, and the substantial increase of accessibility to these services