Rutuja Patil

Project: Feasibility of using a teleconsultation facility (Micro-Health Centre -MHC) in management of CRDs in remote rural area

Background

Remote rural places have always experienced inequity in access to health care facilities and services. Even where places are equipped with facilities, the availability of trained health care providers is a challenge.

Recent advances in technology have enabled clinicians to deploy telemedicine in remote locations. Telehealthcare provides a holistic approach to health and wellbeing by improving access. However, multiple barriers still exist to implement telehealthcare and to scale-up the available technology.

Use of telehealthcare for the management of Chronic Respiratory Disorders (CRDs) in India is not yet proven, hence a feasibility study will help to explore barriers and facilitators to the successful implementation of teleconsultation. This could be done by documenting views, opinions and experiences of opinion leaders and by understanding the perception of the stakeholders, including providers and patients, towards doctor-to-doctor teleconsultation.

This study will generate evidence for creating a policy on ‘Management of overall chronic diseases at remote rural area in India using teleconsultation’.

Aim and impact

The aim of my PhD is to demonstrate the feasibility of providing a clinician-to-clinician remote consultation service using digital technology linking primary physicians with specialists.

Although safety, effectiveness and reliability as compared to the conventional methods is already demonstrated, evidence to implement health information systems for the primary health care in India needs to be generated for scaling.

In long run, this study will generate evidence for policy to manage CRD at remote regions across India.

Key developments

Data collection is complete

Telehealthcare centre strengthening complete

Data analysis in process

Publications

Patil R, Shrivastava R, Juvekar S, McKinstry B, Fairhurst K; for the RESPIRE collaboration

Specialist to non-specialist teleconsultations in chronic respiratory disease management: A systematic review

J Glob Health 2021; 11 04019 doi: 10.7189/jogh.11.04019

Project data

Download the project Data Management Plan

View the project metadata on the Health Data Research innovation Gateway

About me

I am a biotechnologist turned public health professional, with a research interest in policy outcome-oriented activities. With my research, I hope to contribute to national as well as global health.

Rutuja's profile on LinkedIn

Three-Minute Thesis-Style Video Competition

For the RESPIRE ASM Showcase on the 24th November 2020, the RESPIRE PhD students recorded videos explaining their research, as part of a Three-Minute Thesis-Style Video Competition. Watch Rutuja's presentation below.