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Enhancing the Sustainable Goal of Access to Healthcare: Findings from a Literature Review on Telemedicine Employment in Rural Areas

Author

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  • Gabriele Palozzi

    (Department of Management and Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Irene Schettini

    (Department of Management and Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Antonio Chirico

    (Department of Management and Law, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Fighting health inequalities is a challenge addressed by the United Nations Strategic Development Goals (UN-SDGs). Particularly, people living in rural areas suffer from a lack of health infrastructure, which would jeopardize their inclusion in universal coverage for specialist care. Delivering valuable healthcare in underserved areas can be achieved through the employment of new technical innovations, such as telemedicine, which improves service delivery processes. Accordingly, this paper discusses how telemedicine strategies have enhanced the sustainability of right of “access to healthcare” in rural areas. Once we derived the sustainability pillars for healthcare from the UN-SDGs 3 and 10 according to the WHO innovation assessment metrics, a PRISMA-based literature review was conducted using the Scopus database. English, peer-reviewed articles/reviews from 1973 to 2019 were considered. The enquiry covers two analyses: (i) quantitative-bibliometric on 2267 papers; and (ii) qualitative-narrative on the 30 most significant papers. Interest about the topic has increased in the last decade following digitalization diffusion. The most productive and collaborative countries are those with huge dimensions and under financial restrictions. From a sustainability-oriented standpoint, telemedicine enhances both emergency and diagnostic healthcare in rural areas by decreasing the cost of services, expanding coverage of specialist cares, and increasing the quality of the outcomes. For health policies, telemedicine can be considered a suitable solution for providing cost-effective and sustainable healthcare.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Palozzi & Irene Schettini & Antonio Chirico, 2020. "Enhancing the Sustainable Goal of Access to Healthcare: Findings from a Literature Review on Telemedicine Employment in Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-30, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:8:p:3318-:d:347602
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Aria, Massimo & Cuccurullo, Corrado, 2017. "bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 959-975.
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    4. Whitacre, Brian E., 2011. "Estimating the Economic Impact of Telemedicine in a Rural Community," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Dhillon, Harpal S. & Doermann, Alfred C. & Walcoff, Philip, 1978. "Telemedicine and rural primary health care: An analysis of the impact of telecommunications technology," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 37-48.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Francisco Haces-Garcia & Craig L. Glennie & Hanadi S. Rifai, 2022. "Sustainability of Network Infrastructure in a Geospatial Resilience Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Chongling Sun & Evangelia Chrysikou & Eleftheria Savvopoulou & Eva Hernandez-Garcia & Ava Fatah gen. Schieck, 2023. "Healthcare Built Environment and Telemedicine Practice for Social and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, February.
    4. Forhad Hossain & Rafiqul Islam & Takuzo Osugi & Faiz Shah & Tsunenori Mine & Naoki Nakashima & Ashir Ahmed, 2024. "Concept of Micro Healthcare Entrepreneurship (MHE) to Facilitate Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Prospects and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, March.
    5. Radhakrishnan Subramaniam & Satya P. Singh & Parasuraman Padmanabhan & Balázs Gulyás & Prashobhan Palakkeel & Raja Sreedharan, 2021. "Positive and Negative Impacts of COVID-19 in Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.

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