Conclusions About Telemedicine
Introduction
Throughout my research on telemedicine, I have reached numerous conclusions based on nursing informatics, but specifically on telemedicine. The paper focuses on the conclusions drawn from my research based on the currently available literature on telemedicine.
Through my research, I concluded that there is a difference between telehealth and telemedicine. Telehealth entails any support given in a long-distance professional and patient health-associated education, clinical healthcare, and health administrative and public services through the utilization of electronic telecommunication and information technologies (Hebda, Czar, & Mascara, 2019). Such technologies include live-interactive videoconferencing, store-and-forward imaging, and remote monitoring. Telemedicine involves a remote delivery of clinical care services by electronic communications that enables the diagnosis of a disease, prevention, and treatment of disease using information and communication technologies to promote a patient’s health status. Some of the examples of telemedicine technologies include wireless tools, smartphones, and emails.
Through research, I also concluded that telemedicine existed for a long time since the bubonic plague when information exchange took place in Europe using heliograph and bonfires. Moreover, telemedicine exists in two categories: real-time telemedicine and store and forward telemedicine (Potter, Natafgi, Ullrich & MacKinney, 2016). Store and forward telemedicine never need the two parts communicating to remain in contact as a similar time of information exchange; hence one could assemble, organize, and store for future use. Real-time telemedicine use needs both the patient and the physicians to remain in contact at a similar time. Therefore, real-time telemedicine involves live and interactive tendencies that include video conferencing helped by tools for visual and audio examination.
The review of the literature has also helped me to conclude that there are several services of telemedicine. Such services include but not limited to specialist referral services and primary care services. In this case, either of the involved parties-patient or the physician could see the other through live video (Ray, Shi, Gidengil, Poon, Uscher-Pines, & Mehrotra, 2019). Other telemedicine services might need accompaniment with nurse visits to ensure accurate diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. The need for accurate patient health and medical information service through telemedicine is to ensure accuracy in diagnosis and treatment. Consequently, I concluded that telemedicine requires mechanisms through which it delivers its services. The delivery mechanisms include a mode of transmission to deliver the service. The modes of transmission include point-to-point connections, network programs, web-based e-health patient service websites, and monitoring center links.
I also concluded that telemedicine has many benefits that include shortening distances between physicians and patients. Besides, telemedicine saves time by bringing treatment services in reach of patients. Telemedicine helps healthcare providers and physicians easily reach colleagues and consult in case of any doubt in real-time (Scott Kruse, Karem, Shifflett, Vegi, Ravi & Brooks, 2018). Consequently, telemedicine has decreased patient stay lengths and improved chronic disease management. Finally, I concluded that telemedicine’s adoption has many benefits for patients and healthcare providers, but it also has numerous issues that include ethical and legal concerns. Therefore, if the healthcare organization fails to solve the issues, it might serve as a barrier to the utilization of telemedicine in modern society. The privacy, confidentiality, and safety of patient information is the key concern hindering telemedicine’s implementation within the healthcare system.
My current practice requires practice changes. Practice changes would help the healthcare organization help both older healthcare providers adapt to the rapid technological advancements in the medical field well understood by the new generation of physicians and practitioners. Additionally, practice changes would help the healthcare organization prevent legal liabilities from an increased number of violations of privacy and confidentiality of patient information during the utilization of such applications.
In conclusion, telemedicine could help save time and shorten the distance. Additionally, telemedicine’s implementation would help improve healthcare services to patients in rural areas, hence improving patient care based on quality and safety.
References
Hebda, T., Czar, P., & Mascara, C. (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses and health care professionals (pp. 120-121). Pearson Prentice Hall.
Potter, A. J., Natafgi, N., Ullrich, F., & MacKinney, A. C. (2016). Perceptions of the benefits of telemedicine in rural communities. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 1.
Ray, K. N., Shi, Z., Gidengil, C. A., Poon, S. J., Uscher-Pines, L., & Mehrotra, A. (2019). Antibiotic prescribing during pediatric direct-to-consumer telemedicine visits. Pediatrics, 143(5).
Scott Kruse, C., Karem, P., Shifflett, K., Vegi, L., Ravi, K., & Brooks, M. (2018). Evaluating barriers to adopting telemedicine worldwide: A systematic review. Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 24(1), 4-12.