Healthcare Technology in Context Lessons for Telehealth in the Age of COVID-19

This book investigates how the technology used by telehealth services shapes our healthcare, and how we, as humans, collectively change and shape the technology and services used in healthcare. Based on extensive field research on telehealth services in Australia and Brazil, the book reveals some surprisingly obvious conclusions about our powers to shape the society.

1. Introduction.- 2. Organisational and Professional Practice of Telehealth.- 3. Incorporating Technologies into Telehealth Services.- 4. Healthcare in Australia and Brazil.- 5. Telehealth Services in Australia and Brazil.- 6. Organisational Structures Influence Telehealth Services.- 7. Contested Professional Practices When Care Is Separated.- 8. Legitimising Telehealth Services.- 9. Building Confidence in Telehealth Practices.- 10. Building Relationships to Underpin Telehealth Practices.- 11. Applying Resources to Telehealth Services.- 12. How Contexts and Mechanisms Influence Telehealth Services.- 13. Telehealth Services in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Dr. Alan Taylor led the development of IS 13131:2021 Health informatics—Telehealth services—Quality planning guidelines for the International Standards Organisation. Between 2016 and 2020 he served as Vice President of the Australasian Telehealth Society. His research investigates the sustainability of telehealth services including the role of standards, guidelines, socio-technical codes and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has twenty years of experience in the public and private sectors in Australia, Europe and Africa as a project manager, academic, ICT strategist, and architect. He has led numerous telehealth and emergency services initiatives in Queensland and South Australia to improve access to health care using information and communications technologies.