Is It My Future?

Mhealth has reached the poorest of communities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). More than 9 million patients email their physician in 2009 (Digital Health Care, 2010), because patients’ busy lifestyles do not allow time for an office visit for non-emergent health conditions. . In recent years, the expansion of mobile health (mhealth) technologies, including health text messaging, mobile phone applications, remote monitoring, and portable sensors, have changed the way health care is being delivered in the U.S. and globally (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Patients like the convenience of communicating with his or her physician through advanced technology.

The benefits of telehealth consultations are immeasurable; clients are able to access a knowledgeable health care professional and receive a telephone triage/assessment and recommendations. This allows the patient to have immediate access to good health advice and quicker solutions. Telemedicine is one of the many vehicles of telehealth; for example, the cardiologist orders an outpatient Holter Monitor trial to evaluate arrhythmias. The technician calls the patient at the sign of any abnormal rhythm and investigate the activity performed when the reading fluctuation then the reported is communicated to the cardiologist. If warranted, the cardiology staff will contact the patient with instructions schedule an immediate appointment. Telehealth services resources would benefit the client in this next example, an individual’s come in for a sick visit expecting a prescription to be written for their illness; they receive informative instructions because of the nature of the

Telehealth has been a large topic of debate in recent years because of the economic, political, and regulatory points of view. In deciding outcomes in these areas, it is the responsibility of all healthcare professions to identify information gaps in order to come to the more rational and beneficial conclusion about telehealth (Grace, 2014). Economically, there are concerns regarding the access and affordability of telehealth equipment. At the same time, telehealth is being adapted in ways to be utilized with technological devices that many individuals already have access to like telephones, cellular phones, and personal computers/laptops. Telehealth can positively impact both clients and providers by increasing access to care and reducing the time and costs associated with traveling for health care (Allen, Aylott, Loyola, Moric, & Saffarek, 2015). As telehealth develops technological devices can be made more affordable and can be covered by insurance policies (Thomas et al., 2014). Many nurses functioning as case managers can help provide the tools and resources individuals require to manage their health.

Tomika, a co-worker is excited about her new job working for an agency that installs tele-monitoring equipment into the homes of people with chronic illnesses. She will monitor the patients using the equipment with the goal of detecting problems before these patients are readmitted to the hospital. A job in telenursing enables the nurse to work from home assessing and interacting with her patients through videoconferencing. According to a scholarly journal of the American Nurses of Association, there has been an escalation in deployment of remote technology to enhance health care, and an increasing acceptance of these technologies. There are also legal and regulatory questions pertaining to the provision of healthcare using these technologies

Telemedicine seeks to improve a patient’s health by permitting a two-way communication between the patient, and the physician or practitioner at the distant site.

Visiting Nurse Health System (VNHS) is experiencing difficulty in quantifying the benefits of their telemonitoring services used to provide care to patients recently discharged from hospitals. While the company believes these services provide real value to the patients, hospitals and insurance companies, VNHS is worried about the ability to provide future investment in the technology given the tenuous healthcare reimbursement environment. To continue to grow its telemonitoring services, VHNS should:

Telehealth is the use of telecommunications technologies for the provision of long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional education, and health administration (Guido, 2014).

Presently, telehealth is recognized as the use of remote healthcare that includes non-clinical services, provider trainings, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education in addition to clinical services through different modes of technology over distances (Krupinski, Bernard, 2014). Telehealth, creates an opportunity to increase access and the quality of care to individuals without general means of transportation and individuals in rural communities everywhere around the world. Telehealth in conjunction to advanced practice nursing, also referred to as telenursing, creates an opportunity to make an even greater impact and make the use of telehealth more feasible in many respects. In the same way telehealth can

Tele-nursing is the use of telecommunications technology such as videos, computers and tele-monitoring technologies to provide nursing care and advice at a distance. This growing technology offers many advantages in the delivery of healthcare information, disease monitoring, health promotion and disease prevention services, as well as nursing diagnosis, treatment and education to patient at home from a centralized location. Tele-nursing can be instrumental in helping patients and families to be active participants in their care, particularly in the self-management of chronic illness such as congestive heart failure. It is a service that is currently offered by a growing number of hospitals and health maintenance

Telehealth is the monitoring via remote exchange of physiological data between a patient at home and health care professionals at hospitals or clinics to assist with diagnosis and treatment. As our society ages and health care costs increase, government and private insurance payers are seeking technological interventions. Technological solutions may provide high quality healthcare services at a distance, utilize professional resources more effectively, and enable elderly and ill patients to remain in their own homes. Patients may experience decreased hospitalization and urgent care settings, and out of home care may not be required as the patient is monitored at home. However, no study has been able to prove telehealth

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

TAs Technology grows, time and execution of patient services are an essential part of the health care system. Telephonic communication plays a key role in patient care by reducing appointment wait times and addressing patient needs in real-time. In the past before telephonic, you would see an abundance of walk-in patient in the emergency room with questions that would have been answered over the phone. Reducing the amount of walk-in patient is not the only benefit of telephonic communication. Healthcare cost is also reduced tremendously due to telephonic. Patients don’t have to feel the burden of having to pay high cost services by walking into an emergency room. However, even though, these are all great improvements in our health care system,

Telenursing is a new technology used to deliver nursing services to patients where the patient and the nurse communicate directly through audios or videos. It was developed in the 1970’s to curb the professional nurse shortage. Telenursing seeks to monitor a patient while at home, therefore preventing admission and readmission of a patient in a health facility. The telehealth equipment used to monitor the patient give out the patient health progress thus determining the status of their health. Telenursing has helped patients get the love and care they require from their family members,

There are several forms of technology that is used to monitor, assist patients with self-care management, assist physicians with delivering care to their patients, including consultation with specialist, and overcoming barriers with transportation. “60% of the healthcare executives, physicians, and nurses in this inaugural survey said that telemedicine was a high priority for 2015“ (Vockley, 2015, para. 7) Telemedicine

Is telenursing in my future? I have been practicing this unique form of nursing for years without being aware when I perform postoperative phone calls to check on my discharged patients. This service could be enhanced with the integration of computers, tablets, and video to provide health advice and emotional support as the patients recover from surgery. Having the ability to visualize their dressings and assess for abnormalities using the nursing process could only benefit patients as it could prevent painful trips to the physician’s office. We can guide a patient through dressing changes, medication administration, or catheter care thus preventing visits to the doctor. Nursing care can be revolutionized with just a telephone call. “Telehealth allows healthcare delivery over a distance as an alternative to face-to-face encounters” (Moss, 2014, p. 233). Nurses use triage to consult with patients who now have access to healthcare professionals from their homes. Decreasing