Title: Some key aspects of telemedicine development to support human illness: a systematic review

Authors: Claudio Rocco; Fabrizio Striani; Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo; Angelo Corallo

Addresses: Polytechnic of Bari, DMMM, Via Orabona 4 – 70125 Bari, Italy ' Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, via per Monteroni – 73100, Lecce, Italy ' Polytechnic of Bari, DMMM, Via Orabona 4 – 70125 Bari, Italy ' Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, via per Monteroni – 73100 Lecce, Italy

Abstract: The aim of this research is to describe the use of telemedicine applied to patients characterised by a particular state of illness, which often drives them toward a frail and chronic status, in a systematic manner. This work employed the Tranfield approach to carry out a systematic literature review (SLR), in order to provide an efficient and high-quality method for identifying and evaluating extensive studies. The methodology was pursued step by step, analysing keywords, topics, journal quality to arrive at a set of relevant open access papers that was analysed in detail. The same papers were compared to each other and then, they were categorised according to significant metrics, also evaluating technologies and methods employed. Through our systematic review we found that most of the patients involved in telemedicine programs agreed with this service model and the clinical results appeared encouraging. Findings suggested that telemedicine services were appreciated by patients, they increased the access to care and could be a better way to face emergencies and pandemics, lowering overall costs and promoting social inclusion.

Keywords: telemedicine; E-health services; SLR; systematic literature review; Tranfield approach.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2022.128191

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2022 Vol.19 No.3/4, pp.237 - 259

Received: 05 Jul 2021
Accepted: 30 Dec 2021
Published online: 11 Jan 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article