Expanding the frontiers of telehealth through interdisciplinary research and education
The Telehealth laboratory is dedicated and passionate about studying applications, implementation and usability of virtual platforms in improving access to care for isolated, rural or underserved patients.
Our mission is to generate and disseminate research regarding the role of telehealth on access to care, patient experience and outcomes, as well as patient and clinician behavior change, working with the Missouri Telehealth Network and the Show-Me Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. Our other collaborations include the Heartland Telehealth Resource Center, the University of Mississippi, Oregon Health and Science University (OSHU) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Telehealth is “the delivery and facilitation of health and health-related services including medical care, provider and patient education, health information services, and self-care via telecommunications and digital communication technologies. Live video conferencing, mobile health apps, ‘store and forward’ electronic transmission, and remote patient monitoring (RPM) are examples of technologies used in telehealth,” according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Telemedicine is medicine. It’s not a different type of medicine. It is medicine,” said Rahul Sharma, MD, also in NEJM’s Catalyst.
Our research is interdisciplinary: medicine, engineering, nursing, organizational policy, geography and earth studies. We use problem-based approaches to test and evaluate new and emerging technologies. We are committed to finding innovative ways to apply telehealth that will empower patients, improve health care outcomes, reduce costs and facilitate knowledge-sharing between clinicians.
Mirna Becevic, PhD, FAMIA, is the lab director and an assistant professor of telemedicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology. She also serves as a lead evaluator for the Missouri Telehealth Network.
