Background: Telemedicine involves the use of information technology in the delivery of healthcare services. The implementation of telemedicine has increased recently, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period. There are many barriers to the adoption of telemedicine. Additionally, these barriers showed little focus, and studies didn't specify a great focus on such barriers in Saudi Arabia.

Aim: To assess the barriers and challenges restricting the adoption of telemedicine in Saudi Arabia by reviewing the previous studies conducted on this subject.

Methods: The medical literature was explored through PubMed, Elsevier, Research Gate, and Google scholar between the year 2012 and the year 2022. The search keywords included a combination of "Telemedicine, Telehealth, Barriers, Obstacles, Challenges, Adoption, Implementation." The inclusion criteria were original articles conducted in Saudi Arabia that reported barriers and challenges to adopt telemedicine.

Results: A total of 820 articles were obtained, and only six articles were eligible for the inclusion criteria. The studies included a total number of 2256 medical staff members. Barriers were divided into two categories; the first category included barriers related to healthcare providers and the second category included other barriers.

Conclusion: Barriers and challenges of telemedicine adoption were various and differed between different studies in different regions, even in the same country. The major barriers identified involved a lack of awareness and knowledge about telemedicine, the thought of physicians that the clinic is better, technical issues, lack of experts, andcosts.  

Keywords: Barriers, Challenges, Telehealth, Telemedicine.

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Dr Anfal Mohammed Aljohani

Family Medicine consultant