“Telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patients’ health status” (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 156.) Telemedicine is a tool that enables providers to deliver health care services to patients at distant location, and it is often promoted as a means of addressing the imbalances in the distribution of health care resources (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 156.) Telemedicine can be as simple as a telephone conversation among two doctors at different locations or as complex as using satellite technology to provide a consultation between a doctor and a patient that are located in different countries. Telemedicine can also include the use of e-mail, smart phones, wireless tools, and other forms of telecommunications technologies (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 156.) According to Wager, Lee, and Glaser there are two delivery methods that can be used to connect providers with providers or providers with patients (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 157.) The first is called store to forward, which is used transferring digital images from one location to another (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 157). The second is called two-way interactive video conferencing, which is used when a face-to-face consultation is required (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, p. 157). Using two-way interactive video conferencing can allow specialist provider’s access to their patients in rural communities without having to travel. The military and in university research, there are other forms of telemedicine such as robotic equipment used for telesurgery. Telemedicine can make specialty care more accessible to rural and medically underserved communities and can easily connect providers a... ... middle of paper ... ... are many concerns that should be addressed by all medical facilities, no matter the size. Those being: user verification, access, authentication, security, and data integrity. Conclusion Telemedicine, is going to continue to expand, according to the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), approximately 200 telemedicine networks have been established nationwide, and more than 50 percent of U.S. hospitals use at least one telemedicine service (Frederick, 2013, p. 12). Telemedicine hold a great promise in health information technology, it not only promises to improve health care delivery but it also aids in serving the most vulnerable of patients. Both providers and patients in order for it to improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations, thus, reducing health disparities, and lowering health care costs across the spectrum must broadly accept Telemedicine.
...ward understanding the cost benefit of telemedicine applications. Hospital Topics: Research and Perspectives on Healthcare
Moffatt, J. and Eley, D. (2010). The reported benefits of telehealth for rural Australians. Australian Health Review. 34. 276-281.
Physician engagement - Physicians often resist acceptance of new technology and complain about lack of hands on interaction with patients with Telehealth. According to Gustke et al (2000), fear of malpractice suites is another consideration for physicians. Lack of staff with appropriate skills for telehealth also poses a
Prinz, L., Cramer, M. & Englund, A. (2008). Telehealth: A policy analysis for quality, impact on
Zimmerman, L., & Barnason, S. (2006). Use of a telehealth device to deliver a symptom management intervention to cardiac surgical patients. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 22(1), 32-37.
XIAO-YING, Z., & PEIYING, Z. (2016). Telemedicine in clinical setting. Experimental & Therapeutic Medicine, 12(4), 2405-2407.
Telepsychiatry has been used for many years and is highly regarded as an area where the use of telemedicine has been successful. It has been defined as “The delivery of healthcare and the exchange of healthcare information for purposes of providing psychiatric services across distances” (Woo...
The delivery of health care has always been influenced by technological developments and innovations. This is particularly true in modern health care professionals where they are obsessed with technology and rush to apply them. One of the most recent applications of ICT – Information and computer technology- is telehealth. Telehealth is the use of communication, diagnostic and information technology to provide health care when patients and providers are geographically separated [2], Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store -and-forward imaging, streaming media, terrestrial and wireless communications. Telehealth could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone or as sophisticated as doing robotic surgery between facilities at different ends of the globe.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act has provided PMH a great opportunity. The HITECH Act has provided funding for hospitals who are interested in implementing telehealth technology, that will allow patients and providers to connect with each other by using state of the art technology. Telehealth offer preventative and specialized patient care to many of the nation’s 62 million rural residents where hospitals are often lacking (2017). This type of technology is important for hospitals such as PMH, because the rising healthcare costs will make personal access to health care even more difficult. Telehealth technology will allow PMH to connect with other providers remotely and relieve some of the workload
Telenursing is the application of information and telecommunications technology to offer the nursing or healthcare services to the patients. The most advanced field of telehealth is in household telenursing healthcare. Telenursing devices like computers, telephones and videophones enable nurses to increase successfully the patient numbers seen daily while reducing the entire workload (Arnaert & Delesie, 2001). Nurses are capable of doing this without having to leave the doctor’s office or hospital hence saving a considerable amount of
Often the biggest barriers to accessing healthcare are cost and location. Lower income individuals just do not have the resources to have optimal healthcare, or cannot take the time away from employment to deal with health issues. One potential solution to help with these problems could be “telehealth.” Telehealth allows a lower level healthcare practitioner to communicate with a physician or specialists when necessary. Remote rural areas use a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner on location in remote areas. When procedures call for a physician, an internet or satellite link provides a teleconference with a physician who can prescribe appropriate treatment (Gangon, Duplantie, Fortin & Landry 2006). This could be implemented in lower income urban areas, allowing free clinics to lower costs, and require fewer physicians.
Telehealth is considered as a tool that could exert a positive impact on several dimensions of health care services delivery in rural, remote and isolated regions. It provides delivery services in a timely fashion for remote populations, facilitates access to education for clinicians, and save travel costs for patients and professionals. For instances, in Canada, many telehealth projects take place in rural, remote or isolated populations and various telehealth applications have been implemented and have shown promising outcomes. However, telehealth utilization remains limited in many settings, despite increased availability of technology and telecommunication infrastructure. A qualitative field study conducted in four remote regions of Quebec, exploring perceptions of physicians and managers regarding the impact of telehealth on clinical practice and
Harzheim (2017) is a narrative study, noting how a small group of physicians with experience with primary care and minimal information concerning telemedicine/telehealth successful implemented a teleconsult program. The program serviced 9 out of 26 states in Brazil and was initiated in 2007. After education and protocols were developed, a teleconsultation program was manifested. The teleconsulting program allowed dialogue between providers with the goal of resolving medical issues without in-person specialty consultation appointments. The program has been deemed successful as evidenced by over 83,000 hotline teleconsultations by the end of 2016 with a 95% approval rate; and overdue specialty appointments were decreased by 122,000 in two years (Gonçalves, Umpierre, D'Avila, Katz, Mengue, Siqueira, & ... Harzheim,
Telemedicine is a new comer to the field of medicine and it is the treatment of patients by means of telecommunications technology. Telemedicine is carried out in a variety of ways whether it is by smart phone, wireless tools or other forms of telecommunications. Examples of telemedicine include: 1) transmission of medical images 2) care services at the home of the patient 3) Diagnosis at distance 4) education and training of patients. The diversity of practices in what is known as telemedicine raises many questions and one of those questions, which is extremely important, relate to the safety of the practice and the risks involved.
With the help of telehealth and telenursing, overall healthcare costs can be reduced, especially for those patients