Technology Project pertinent to their practice environment
RUNNING HEADER: TELEMEDICINE EFFECTS
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Telemedicine Effect on Health Care Services
Katrina Collazo de Armas
Florida National University
Health Care Informatics
Prof: Jacqueline Alonso
5/28/2022
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Proposal: Effect of Telemedicine and telehealth on rural areas’ healthcare services.
Project Background
The project of telemedicine and telehealth started in the 1950s when university medical
Centers and hospital systems tried to share images and heath information through telephones. In
Pennsylvania, the trial was successful, where two health centers shared radiologic images via
phones (Groom et al., 2021). Telemedicine and telehealth were used to connect doctors working
with their patients in one location and the specialist working in another area or location. This
kind of healthcare provider services significantly benefited people living in areas hard to reach
and rural areas where specialists were not available.
The change and advancement of technology were good news for the practice of telehealth
and telemedicine. An increase in the production of smart devices and an increase in internet
connection opened up opportunities for telemedicine and telehealth practices where doctors and
specialists can now share quality videos and images through the new smart devices. These are
alternative methods to provide health services to the patient for specialist and primary care.
Telehealth uses a wide range of technologies in healthcare setups to improve quality and
healthcare delivery. Telehealth is a non-clinical practice intended to provide healthcare services
for patients in rural areas and hard-to-reach populations. This practice entails continuing medical
education, health care services provider training, and administrative meetings. On the other hand,
telemedicine uses software and electronic communication to provide and enhance clinical
services to patients without necessarily meeting them in person. Telemedicine practices monitor
patients with chronic illnesses, do follow-ups, specialist consultation medication management,
and host other health care clinical services (Brown-Jackson, 2018). This is done through a secure
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connection where doctors and specialist provides clinical services through secure audio and
video connections.
Goals and Significance Discussion
Telemedicine and telehealth aim to increase patient-specialist or doctor engagement and
satisfaction, reduce cost of care and hospital readmission, and improve patient outcomes.
Readmissions and visiting hospitals are costly, especially for people living in rural areas.
Telemedicine and telehealth programs ensure that patients receive quality services in the comfort
of their homes using their smart gadgets. There is also a limited number of specialists and
doctors in health facilities to monitor patients (Gogia, 2019). One specialist can monitor and
follow up with several patients with the new practice program. According to the National Rural
Health Association, the number of patients in rural areas is overwhelming the available
physicians for primary care practices.
The other goal of the project is to reduce doctors’ burnout. Specialist health is paramount
at the place of work. Burnout affects the doctors’ happiness and job satisfaction, affecting their
productivity and patient care. According to the survey conducted, more than 50 percent of
doctors and specialists who participated in that survey reported that they would prefer taking a
pay cut rather than working in areas without work-life balance. With telemedicine, the
specialists’ movement from room to room is minimized, and interruption is minimized, reducing
stress.
Doctors and specialists can also reawaken morale and plan on how to improve the
patients’ outcomes. Telemedicine also grows revenue where patients get to meet specialists,
allowing the patient to be treated in the hospital instead of being transferred to other facilities.
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Lastly, telemedicine and telehealth are easier to adopt and cost-effective in hospitals set up in
this technological era. It is a productive way that yields positive result and improve doctors’ and
specialists’ practices.
Evidence-Based Research
Telemedicine played a vital role after the outbreak of covid 19 pandemic. Before the
outbreak, telemedicine provided specialty care to seriously ill patients and their families. Most of
these patients reported saying that the new way of receiving the care was efficient and
convenient. During the pandemic, telemedicine was adopted to critically provide services to
patients to help mitigate the spread of the virus. For instance, the University of California
mandated telemedicine to be used for non-palliative and palliative care patients in ambulatory
settings. Governments and hospitals imposed limitations on where people now use telemedicine.
In a recent survey conducted, 100 percent of caregivers and 97 percent of patients reported being
comfortable having an emotional and sensitive conversation over the video (Calton et al., 2020).
Telemedicine and telehealth have proven to be effective practices for providing health care
services to vulnerable people.
In nursing, medical consultation, tele neurology, tele radiology and psychotherapy,
telemedicine, and telehealth have proven to be accepted and feasible. Some of the advantages of
these new practices are reduced distance between patients and doctors, especially patients in
rural areas, and increased support to caregivers. Laws play an essential role in influencing
telemedicine. Data privacy and security are critical in the new practices to ensure patient
information protection (Nittari et al., 2020). Telehealth has played a significant role in ensuring
that care givers are trained and educated on the risks of new telemedicine practices.
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During the covid 19 pandemic, telemedicine plays a more significant role in the
orthopedic setting. According to studies, the use of telemedicine practice is increasing where
orthopedic surgeons utilize the practice even after the social distancing was relaxed. The United
States department of health, after the outbreak of covid 19, supported telemedicine which was
adopted to reduce the spread of the virus. According to studies, telemedicine has been of great
benefit to orthopedic patients where Buvik et al. reported that the practice has no negative impact
on the patient’s outcome. Telemedicine has also been proven cost-effective for orthopedic clinics,
and patients are reported to be satisfied with the new practice (Hurley et al., 2021). Telemedicine
and telehealth use has increased due to the outbreak of covid 19 pandemic.
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References
Brown-Jackson, K. L. (2018). Telemedicine and Telehealth. In Consumer-Driven Technologies
in Healthcare. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-6198-9.ch009
Calton, B., Abedini, N., & Fratkin, M. (2020). Telemedicine in the Time of Coronavirus. Journal
of Pain and Symptom Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.03.019
Gogia, S. (2019). Fundamentals of Telemedicine and telehealth. In Fundamentals of
Telemedicine and Telehealth. https://doi.org/10.1016/c2017-0-01090-x
Groom, L. L., McCarthy, M. M., Stimpfel, A. W., & Brody, A. A. (2021). Telemedicine and
Telehealth in Nursing Homes: An Integrative Review. In Journal of the American Medical
Directors Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2021.02.037
Hurley, E. T., Haskel, J. D., Bloom, D. A., Gonzalez-Lomas, G., Jazrawi, L. M., Bosco, J. A., &
Campbell, K. A. (2021). The Use and Acceptance of Telemedicine in Orthopedic Surgery
during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Telemedicine and E-Health.
https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.0255
Nittari, G., Khuman, R., Baldoni, S., Pallotta, G., Battineni, G., Sirignano, A., Amenta, F., &
Ricci, G. (2020). Telemedicine Practice: Review of the Current Ethical and Legal
Challenges. In telemedicine and e-Health. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2019.0158