A Review on Implementation of Electronic Health in Iran Literature

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: The important role of electronic health as well as the importance of health care systems may lead to the essential infrastructures for electronic health especially in developing countries. Iran is a developing country that has national plans such as TAKFA and SEPAS as well as organizational e-health projects such as HISs in hospitals. The present study is a non-systematized review conducted in order to investigate literature about electronic health in Iran. Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, Science direct, Magiran, SID and Irandac were searched for “Telemedicine”, “E-health” and “Iran” keywords from Sep 2005 to Apr 2016. About 74 articles were found which were evaluated and finally 40 of them were selected based on their relevance to the study. Results: Research findings showed these subjects: E-health readiness factors, types of telemedicine implementation, barriers and benefits of e-health in Iran. Some types of e-health were: Text messaging, telephone support or follow- up; and web-based interventions were effective channels of communication for health care and diseases management. Clinical librarians were able to provide reliable information to remote and rural physicians, the fact which was also verified by the specialists. Although literatures showed that E-health was beneficial for healthcare system, but there were managerial, technical, social and organizational barriers, which have to be moderated. Conclusion: Similar to other countries, implementation of e-health in Iran is subjected to challenges. Effective factors for E-health implementation are: efficient administration and behavior intention in E-health adoption. Hence, E-health providers need to adhere to the proposed solution in order to overcome the mentioned challenges in such complicated projects. Keywords: e-health, telemedicine, Iran