A systematic review of the methodologies used to evaluate telemedicine service initiatives in hospital facilities

摘要

Background: The adoption of telemedicine into mainstream health services has been slower than expected. Many telemedicine projects tend not to progress beyond the trial phase; there are a large number of pilot or project publications and fewer u27serviceu27 publications. This issue has been noted since 1999 and continues to be acknowledged in the literature. While overall telemedicine uptake has been slow, some services have been successful. The reporting and evaluation of these successful services may help to improve future uptake and sustainability. The aim of this literature review was to identify peer reviewed publications of deployed telemedicine services in hospital facilities; and to report, and appraise, the methodology used to evaluate these services.