Telemedicine adoption and diffusion: The case of the United Arab emirates

This research was initiated to explore telemedicine (TM) adoption and diffusion in healthcare organizations in the UAE. According to the exploratory findings of this research, the research endeavored to achieve two main targets. Initially, it was revealed that the telemedicine phenomenon was not that extensive in the UAE in the sense there was no self initiated TM networks or specialty TM centers as such. According to this finding the researcher attempted to explore the perceptions of healthcare professional in the UAE about their attitudes and behavior towards adopting the TM technology in their organizations using a theoretical construct extended from the technological innovation literature. Secondly, the existing TM initiatives in the UAE were initiated in cooperation with Mayo Clinic to have complete multimedia TM system for tele-consultations (second opinion). The effectiveness of this approach is also examined in this research. The research discusses the research findings in the light of the overall literature highlighting further implications and suggesting ways where TM could be pushed forward in the UAE What is yet to be seen in the UAE context is the initiation of self governed specialty TM systems and networks.