Telehealth: Ethical and Legal Challenges Essay examples

Telehealth is an innovative approach to health care that is rapidly expanding in all areas of patient care. It has been shown to be cost effective and is rapidly being integrated into everyday practices from clinics, hospitals, court systems, school systems and even the local drug store.

It excludes the option of face-to-face communication during examinations. Finally, telehealth focuses on educational and research purposes involving all types of caregivers with telecommunication between patient and health professionals. Health care delivery in its use of information, records, communication, and will continue to grow with the Internet. The rapid expansion of information technology into daily life and business has healthcare delivery begin to adopt and optimize the use of technology.

While sometimes used interchangeably in literature, telemedicine is the remote delivery of clinical data using the internet, telephone, wireless, and satellite media (“The Rise of Telehealth,” 2015). Telehealth services are provided through various devices such as cell phones, the internet, video, and computer software. The goal of telehealth is to “provide the right care at the right place at the right time” (“Home Telehealth: A Tool for Diabetic Self-Management,” 2016). Telehealth applications perform a wide array of functions. For instance, certain programs collect objective and subjective findings which help the healthcare team identify a diagnosis. Some telehealth technologies have been designed to allow images to be uploaded and assessed by healthcare professionals. Certain applications provide the patient with remote monitoring. Other services are designed to educate and prevent certain disease processes among its users (“The Rise of Telehealth,” 2015). All of the services which telehealth offer are designed to track various trends in patient data and the goal is that they be as user friendly as

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how technology has impacted the health care delivery system. Health care technology is advancing at an increasingly rapid rate in the United States, and globally. Patients and providers are witnessing these changes through the use of telehealth, and telemedicine applications. Telehealth, and telemedicine are often used interchangeably, however there is a difference between the two applications. Telehealth is the use of technology to deliver health care, health information, or health education at a distance (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

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

Many of these barriers exist from lack of essentially knowing the benefits of what the incorporation of telehealth can offer within the aspect of this type of community. At times, there has been a great interest in telehealth surrounding its potential to reduce health care costs along with the improvement of patient outcomes, but at times there has been no known scientific evidence base underpinning it (McLean, Sheikh, Cresswell, Nurmmatov, Mukherjee, Hemmi & Pagilari, 2013).

In this context telemedicine and technological capability can respond to two major strands: the first is a simplification to ensure that with available technologies, all actors of a clinical path from taking care to resign, share real-time Useful information for themselves and for other professionals in order to identify and follow the best path. The second strand is the provision on the territory of technological capacities that are very developed in a hospital environment but whose deployment is quite circumscribed.

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.

“Telehealth changes the location of care by connecting patients and clinicians virtually, in place of the usual face-to-face contact.” (Darkins 2012).

Telehealth is the use of electronic information to support long distance clinical health care, patient education, and public health administration. Telehealth involves video conferences, internet, streaming media, and wireless communication to deliver health related services. It encompasses the preventative, promotive, and curative aspects of health care. This system exchanges health related data and other information between the patient and the health care professional to help with the diagnosis and management of conditions. It allows for conferencing between health care professionals and patients in “real time”, remote patient monitoring (such as the blood pressure monitor feeding results through the system), electronic consultation, transmission of medical data, health advice in emergency cases, and long distance patient education. Telehealth is great for monitoring a client in between doctor appointments in order to assess their progression. This benefits the clients because it reduces the need for hospitalizations and visits to the emergency room, while improving their quality of life.

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

There are five principles to ethical nursing. The first principle, nonmaleficence, or do no harm, it is directly tied to a nurse's duty to protect the patient's safety. This principle dictates that we do not cause injury to our patients. A way that harm can occur to patients is through communication failures. These failures can be intentional or as a result of electronic or human error. Failing to convey accurate information, giving wrong messages, and breaking down of equipment, can cause harm to patients. Some of these communication problems may certainly occur whether a patient is at a neighborhood clinic or 500 miles away, but distance and high reliance on electronic technology make close examination of communication and ethical

When using Telemedicine humans can accomplish many great things and can benefit everyone. The potential this innovation has could be really great if they succeed on making it right. If this Innovation worked many lives will be saved across the world. As well as lives we might be able to learn new things from this and find more cures. According to professionals at the medical field telemedicine has been approving for the past couple years and as potential to keep going. Not only is this innovation good at saving lives it is also helping the economy by getting rid of competition. Even though some people see competition in the economy a good thing but it also has its downs that can really help some

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

Telenursing has allowed for nurse to continue cares of their patient even after they are discharged from hospital. “The ICN defines telenursing as follows. Telenursing refers to the use of telecommunications technology in nursing to enhance patient care”. (Kamei, 2013). There are many ways to communicate and gather information about the patient via landline phones, cell phones, videophones, personal computers, patient-specific information input terminals, tablet computers, and smart phone. These devices are essential for providing health care professional and nursing consult and mentor patients. (Kamei, 2013). Telenurses monitor patient continuously paying attention to their non-verbal cues, and tone of voice, breathing rate to determine if there are any issues of concern. “The key to effectively forming and maintaining the nurse-patient relationship lies in the nurse’s ability to interact and communicate with the patient.” (Jones, Hendricks, & Cope, 2012). According to Kamei, there are five principles to follow with telenursing. The first principle is of “building a therapeutic nurse-client relationships”. The second principle is of “providing and documenting care”. The third principle is of “roles and responsibilities”. The fourth principle is “consent, privacy and confidentiality”. And last, the fifth principle is “ethical and legal considerations”. The nurse should be able to establish rapport with patient; be knowledgeable to provide proper education in