Previously submitted to: JMIR Cancer (no longer under consideration since Nov 24, 2017)
Date Submitted: Apr 19, 2017
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Telemedicine and mobile health solutions in oncology: an opinion poll of representatives of Polish medical societies
Background:
Telemedicine, or diagnosis/treatment of patients via telecommunications technology, and mobile health (mHealth) is increasingly gaining acceptance across numerous medical fields worldwide. Indeed, the World Health Organization strongly recommends that mHealth technologies should be implemented in health care systems across all Member States of the European Union. However, in Poland, the public health system has not yet implemented the institutional framework, including legislation, to facilitate an mHealth model.
Objective:
This study aimed to obtain the opinion from management representatives of Polish medical societies on the use and possibilities of telemedicine and mHealth solutions in Poland, particularly those relating to cancer.
Methods:
Eleven Polish medical societies, whose members perform tasks related to prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer, were invited to participate in this study. A total of nine experts from seven medical societies accepted the invitation. The study was conducted using partially structured individual interviews, lasting 45 to 70 minutes. A qualitative analysis of the experts’ responses was performed.
Results:
We found telemedicine is currently more widely known and used among the oncology experts than mHealth technologies. According to the experts, widespread dissemination of telemedicine is expected across all medical fields, including oncology, in future; however, the use of mHealth applications (apps) may not be as easily accepted in the clinic. The biggest advantages of telemedicine stated by the respondents were its ability to save time and to improve the quality of health care. Challenges to mHealth solutions in clinical practice in Poland include low technological literacy, the threat to data security, and insufficient scientific evidence of efficacy and safety.
Conclusions:
Telemedicine and mHealth solutions can offer many advantages to both patients and health care professionals. However, there is a necessity to create a system of financing telemedicine and mHealth to achieve more widespread use of these technologies in Poland. We must also create a legal framework to support the health care professionals and to protect patients’ personal data. Patients must be educated prior to the implementation of mHealth apps to ensure an adequate use. App developers should involve health care professionals in their development process and consider the needs of older people and those with poor technology literacy. Finally, there should be more scientific validation of mHealth apps.
Citation
