Today, globally the healthcare system is striving its best to deliver effective healthcare practices that improve the health and well-being of an individual. Healthcare is a broad and growing sector where emerging technologies like cloud computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence are applied to yield improved outcomes. Digital technologies provide result-oriented solutions with concepts that help to ease the hospital processes, medical care, and thus improving patient satisfaction.
What is Telehealth?
Telehealth is an advanced and innovative solution that delivers health services remotely. It used communication technologies to provide healthcare services outside the hospital premises. Telehealth includes remote monitoring of vitals, such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation, pulse, while telemedicine is the provision of health services via doctor consultation. Telemedicine uses electronic communications to provide clinical services to patients remotely.
Telehealth Technology – Advanced solution to meet the health needs
Several technologies like remote patient monitoring (RPM) have been deployed in telehealth to promote effective health outcomes. Telehealth provides support health services remotely using digital communications. Telehealth technology allows the patients to consult and interact with the doctors via smart devices and the web. Telemedicine solutions extend their service to long distances where healthcare systems can beat the demand of the highest number of patients approaching the hospitals with various health ailments. The health IT manages patients portals where it stores and shares information in an easily accessible way.
Telehealth technologies are allowing to provide high-quality care with maximum productivity and outcomes. Remote patient monitoring is a type of telemedicine technology where a patient is monitored continuously for the management of chronic diseases that require long-term healing and recovery. This reduces the hospital and is cost-effective for the patients.
A number of companies are ensuring telehealth solutions with top-quality easy-to-use devices. This is allowing the healthcare systems to increase their services with regular follow-ups and effective solutions that aid in chronic disease management. The phase of telemedicine is changing faster with the growing technology. With the rise of telemedicine, a number of consumer-friendly mobile health apps are being developed to meet the needs of the growing population and the healthcare businesses. With this, there is a surge in the use of medical devices that are used to check the vitals, such as blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation levels, and blood glucose levels. Although there are a few downsides of telemedicine because of the societal and technological barriers, its growing popularity is making the healthcare systems bring in innovative advancements in the field of telemedicine.
Benefits of Telehealth to patients:
Extensive reach to the rural areas
Telehealth network is a novel solution to expand health access even to the patients in a remote area. Sometimes, normal healthcare delivery systems cannot reach people beyond their delivery systems.
Easy access amid busy schedules
While our daily schedules are getting busy with our lifestyle, it has become a real-time challenge to schedule an appointment and visit a doctor. With telemedicine, a patient need not take their time off from work to reach the hospital.
Cost-effective than hospital visits
When it comes to reaching a hospital for an appointment commuting takes time and one needs to spend some secondary expenses. Those who can access care via telemedicine can save commute expenses and need not spend long waiting hours at the hospital.
Access to people with mobility challenges
Telemedicine is easy to access for people with limited mobility, such as geriatric patients and those with different forms of disability. Transportation can be challenging for such people, especially when the distance travelled is more and time taking process.
Relief to those with chronic conditions
People living with chronic health conditions require frequent follow-ups to evaluate their health condition. In such cases, telehealth enables remote access through mobile devices and the web.
Aids in disease prevention and long-term health
Telemedicine is the most reliable solution option for preventive care. Mild symptoms that lead to chronic disease conditions can be addressed at the initial stage and prevent worsening of the health.
Prevents the spread and risk of acquiring an infection
At least a quarter of those who visit the hospital carry infections that can spread from one person to another. This is a high risk for people with weak immune systems. Telemedicine is the most convenient way to consult a doctor where an individual can eliminate the risk of acquiring infections.
Avoids dependence
Elderly patients and disabled people often require another person to accompany them to the hospital. Telemedicine avoids relying on other people to help them reach a hospital.
Benefits of Telehealth to Doctors/Healthcare providers:
Numerous advanced solutions
Extensive telehealth technologies enable healthcare providers to improve the existing services via digital platforms.
Lesser office expenses
A hospital setup requires a huge expenditure to be spent on infrastructure, along with the payment to the clinical and non-clinical staff. Telemedicine incurs less cost for the office rooms when compared to a hospital setup.
Reduced risk of infections
Telemedicine allows doctor’s consultations remotely by which the hospital staff are less prone to the risk of illness and infections from the patients who visit the hospital.
Improves patient outcomes
It is often difficult to monitor patients with chronic health conditions, especially when it comes to hospital admission. Technologies like remote patient monitoring enable access to patient’s vitals every minute and minimize the risk of complications.
Telehealth services cut down a lot of expenses for the patient and the hospital management. Advanced technologies like telemedicine and remote patient monitoring reduce the number of hospital admissions as the patients are monitored through various digital devices like wearables and fall detection devices. Telemedicine practices are currently booming across the world and there is a significant upside with potential telehealth practices. Telehealth services are synchronized to a local server which allows immediate transfer of a message to the user end. The messages sent from the healthcare provider are secure and holds the privacy rights of the patient information.
