Exploring the Role of Telemedicine in Improving Access to Healthcare in UAE

Running head: TELEMEDICINE
Telemedicine
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

2TELEMEDICINE
Project title:
Exploring the role of telemedicine in improving the access to healthcare in UAE
Overview:
In the current era, different segments of the medical industry have adopted the
technology in order to provide benefits to the patient. Integrating technology in the healthcare
setting gained huge popularity because of more convenient tracking, regulatory and monitory
benefits of technology. The onset of innovation in the technical field, telemedicine is a game
changer to serve people throughout the world. A study by Alaboudi et al. (2016), suggested that
the accepatnce of telemedicine in health care has increased significantly, approximately more
than 80% of the emergency health issues can be taken care with the assistance of telemedicine.
With just a simple click in the smartphone, a physician can enable providers to diagnose and
treat minor health issues such as sinusitis, pharyngitis and the common cold. Therefore,
mounting evidence highlighted that integrating technologies like telemedicine has significantly
improved access to health care services (Alaboudi et al., 2015). Although there are innumerable
benefits of telemedicine, the adaption of telemedicine within UAE is laden with critical
challenges (Khoja & Sheeshah, 2018). This issue is worth studying because literature showed
that in UAE, different individuals’ highlighted different point of view about the role of
telemedicine and therefore, my interest in this topic is to explore the role of telemedicine through
consumer’s interview and literature review for three years. This paper will illustrate the aim of
the study, rationale, research question, literature review, methodology, research philosophy,
limitation of the study, ethical consideration, and expected outcome in following paragraphs.

3TELEMEDICINE
The rationale for your proposed study:
In the era of modern technology, the benefits associated with telemedicine are gradually
marking the medical industry to provide high-quality patient-centric care through improving the
accessibility to health care services (Al-Khathaami et al., 2015). However, literature identified
that a considerate number of the individuals’ in UAE unable to access the healthcare services.
This issue is crucial because as discussed by Mahalli (2015), there are country-specific barriers,
organization-specific barriers, patient, and medical staff specific barriers are identified. A study
suggested that a considerate number of individuals have inadequate knowledge of using
technology that hinders them to gain access to the health care services (Al-Khathaami et al.,
2015). Another study Alsulame, Khalifa & Househ (2016), suggested that although majority of
individuals gained access to health care facilities, confidentiality and privacy become an issue.
Therefore, primary research and secondary research need to conduct in order to understand the
point of view of the consumers in improving health care services. Ministry of Happiness in UAE
will be able to provide data on the customer experience of the health industry in UAE that would
be helpful to conduct the research.
An aim of your study:
The study intends to explore the role of telemedicine in improving health care services
within the UAE population for a time span of three years
Objectives of your study:
The research objectives are:

4TELEMEDICINE
1. To explore the role of telemedicine in improving access to health care services for a
period of three years in accordance to the perspective of the consumer
2. To examine the barriers that hinder the population of UAE from the accessibility to
health care services for three years
3. To suggest the possible mitigation measures that can tackle the barriers and improve
accessibility to healthcare services
Research question:
Can adopting telemedicine services be effective to improve access to health care services
within the population of UAE?
Literature review:
With the growing importance of technology in the medical industry, telemedicine is
making its mark around the globe. However, it is crucial to realize that integration of the
telemedicine like technology in the medical field does not eliminate the visits to the doctors
rather technologies like telemedicine enhance the accessibility to the health care services without
visiting doctors. A study by Hassan et al. (2018), suggested that telemedicine improves the
public accessibility to information, care assistance, improves professional education, quality
control to the screening program and reduces cost related to healthcare facilities. Alaboudi et al.
(2016), argued that merging telemedicine with the health care industry not only improve the
accessibility to the health care services but also eliminate any chances of transmitting infectious
disease from a patient to the health care professionals. Dawoud et al. (2017), also reported the