Improving Computer-Mediated Synchronous Communication of Doctors in Rural Communities through Cloud Computing: A Case Study of Rural Hospitals in South Africa

This paper investigated how doctors in remote rural hospitals in South Africa use computer-mediated tool to communicate with experienced and specialist doctors for professional advice to improve on their clinical practices. A case study approach was used. Ten doctors were purposively selected from ten hospitals in the North West Province. Data was collected using semi-structured open ended interview questions. The interviewees were asked to tell in their own words the average number of patients served per week, processes used in consultation with other doctors, communication practices using computer-mediated tool, transmission speed of the computer-mediated tool and satisfaction in using the computer-mediated communication tool. The findings revealed that an average of 15 consultations per doctor to a specialist doctor per week was done through face to face or through telephone conversation instead of using a computer-mediated tool. Participants cited reasons for not using computer-mediated tool for communication due to slow transmission speed of the Internet and regular down turn of the Internet connectivity, constant electricity power outages and lack of e-health application software to support real time computer-mediated communication. The results led to the recommendation of a hybrid cloud computing architecture for improving communication between doctors in hospitals.