IMPLEMENTATION OF TELEMEDICINE SYSTEM TO IMPROVE AND EXPAND COVID-19 SCREENING AND EVALUATION: A REFLECTION ON ACTION RESEARCH APPROACH AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE POSSIBLE SPREAD OF THE PANDEMIC
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect on action research approach adopted in the design of the COVID-19 Online Screening and Evaluation Telemedicine Service system – a telemedicine system developed to promote the sharing of expertise and resources between the advanced COVID-19 diagnostic center in a major tertiary hospital and remote primary health centers and district hospitals in India.Methodology: The longitudinal research within this project was used to determine whether the action research methodology affected the course of the project and its progress, helping the project team to better adapt the program to the needs of the clinicians and tackle the unexpected problems common in diagnosis and spread of COVID-19.Findings: The study results found that implementation of the telemedicine system with the mobile application is imperative to implement social distancing and improve the growing shortage of COVID-19 diagnosis in India.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The paper contributes to the methodological design by using action research to analyze the field of practice using the telemedicine system within a healthcare diagnosis setting. This paper aims to tackle the research problem of low telemedicine use in healthcare as a whole, and more specifically within the diagnosis for COVID-19.