Caring for patients or delivering healthcare services remotely is known as telemedicine. The major types of telemedicine include;
Interactive medicine- This type of telemedicine allows both physicians and patients to engage in real-time maintaining HIPAA compliance. Forward and store- It enables health care practitioners to share patient’s information with one other in different locations.
Remote patient monitoring- This enables caregivers to monitor their patients remotely at their home using internet-enabled devices like mobile phones that collect data like blood pressure and blood sugar.
Setting up telemedicine.
A practitioner or a clinic may require HIPAA compliant video conference software to deliver telemedicine services. Health care providers who need to have a more complete set of virtual clinic solutions must consider their existing workflow. A waiting room, EHR, and payment function are necessary to be incorporated into the software or system. Custom telehealth solutions are required for large hospitals or clinics to ease the adoption of the new system or software as it may take time for physicians to get used to the new systems. This helps in reducing the time which an individual health care practitioner takes to adapt to the new system. It is also important to consider the health regulations and policy of the country or state. A health organization may partner with a telemedicine company for an easier transition and implementation of regulations, legalities, and technological aspects during the process of adopting telemedicine.
How is telemedicine conducted?
There is a lot of ways someone can use telemedicine. The most used is a simple video call. Some countries may require the use of secured HIPAA compliant video conference tools. Companies like VSee have secured HIPAA compliant video conference tools and other simple solutions for users. Telemedicine can also be conducted by using a portable telemedicine kit that has a mobile medical device and a computer like vital signs monitors and ECGs. High resolutions digital cameras are also used to send detailed pictures to medical specialists. A robust telemedicine software can be used, and it enables data storage, and live video conferencing. As technology is keeping on changing every day so is new inventions in telemedicine being launched.
Applications of telemedicine.
Chronic disease management – Nowadays it’s easier for medical physicians to monitor patient’s wellbeing over long distances. Through internet-connected devices, one can access a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, and much more. For examle, VSee which is a telemedicine company help health organizations in treating patients suffering from chronic diseases by creating telemedicine solutions to monitor patients from their homes.
Medical management – Healthcare physicians can use telemedicine to monitor whether their patients have taken their medications. Some older patients are prone to forget to take their medication thus telemedicine comes into play. The use of telemedicine in medical management helps in enhancing medication compliance and leads to fewer hospital readmissions.
Medical information sharing – Health care providers can share information over a distance through a type of telemedicine called the store and forward. This enables physicians to connect with other healthcare specialists located in another area. Information like blood analysis, diagnostic images are also shared in real-time.
Emergency room diversion – One of the most expensive and stressful environments in healthcare is in the emergency room. Having a healthcare provider attending to a patient through a video chat can reduce overcrowding in emergency rooms. The physician can then determine whether the patient needs to seek care in an emergency department.
Second opinion – Patients can seek a second opinion from the comfort of their home through telemedicine solutions. It is easy to send a physician finding on an individual patient by uploading the documents on a secure website. This creates convenience as one doesn’t have to drive all the way to meet the physician and it also saves time.
