Investigating Telehealth - Essay Example

? Investigating Telehealth Introduction The development of healthcare services has often been regarded as a major advantage for the people in order to acquire highly efficient and required medical facilities. In the context of increasing growth of modern healthcare services, it has been witnessed that a continuous implementation of technological advancements have been profoundly elevating the quality level of healthcare facilities. In relation to the recent technological advancements in the healthcare services, telehealth can be considered as one of the effective and successful healthcare facilities of the modern healthcare organizations. Telehealth can be defined as a healthcare technology that is broadly executed in order to distribute healthcare services, relevant information and other health related education to the concerned audiences at various ends of the world. Telehealth service of the modern healthcare organization can be characterized into two major applications such as, real-time communication and store-and-forward application when providing effective and efficient healthcare services to a wide range of customer groups across the different regions (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, n.d.). With regard to technological advancement in the modern healthcare services, this paper intends to briefly discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of real-time communication, which is often regarded as a telehealth service in respect to provide effective healthcare services. Moreover, the paper will also aim to deliver financial aspects and evaluated security concern of real-time communication service of the modern organizations with its various legal considerations to offer advanced and extended healthcare benefits of telehealth services. Major Advantages of Real-Time Communication Real-time communication is one of the major and effective applications of telehealth service that principally involves consulting with superior medical specialists through a live audio and video conference as per the requirement of the patient and the junior consultants in the medical field. This is quite likely to enhance the efficiency of medical units augmenting the reachability of the patients and the junior consultants towards reliable information to be obtained from the experts even though if they are out-of-station. The real-time communication of telehealth service may also engage patients and physicians for effectively examining the disease with a medical expert from different place through teleconference (Daya, 2011). Few of the major advantages of the telehealth process have been identified and discussed below. Accessibility Real-time communication facility of telehealth service is often described as the unique process to assist healthcare benefits through effective and advanced utilization of modern technologies. The real-time communication in medical service delivering process can perhaps be regarded as the major process of tracking through advanced technology that connects healthcare providers and patients with efficiency reducing barriers in terms of distance and time, simultaneously involving accountability and conformity through the elimination of probable confusions and problems caused due to lack of adequate information. Hence, its application can develop the accessibility of patients and the medical practitioners as well in acquiring both primary and intensive medical benefits across the world (Daya, 2011). Time Efficiency One of the major advantages of real-time communication application can be discussed in relation to its time efficiency aspects when providing advanced treatments and diagnostic facilities to the patients, especially in critical situations. At frequent instances, it has been observed that medical experts require to travel distant in order to gather information, to perform research, to assist rural area patients and various other reasons. This in turn limits the reachability of the physician and the patient as well to obtain the required information regarding their problem through expert review. It is in this context that the application in telehealth service facilitates to connect patients with the expert medical practitioners with the intention to obtain reliable and beneficial consultation through access to adequate information regarding chronic diseases. Hence, when discussing about the benefits of this process, saving cost and time can be considered as the most significant advantages of this process which facilitates the patients and practitioners to access appropriate healthcare services (University of Miami Health System, n.d.) Cost Efficiency The real-time communication facility can further be observed as the most effective system to obtain additional benefits including diagnosis, medicines as well as required healthcare facilities for the patients at a minimum cost comparing to the other available processes of healthcare services. The real-time communication service involves a process to connect patients with medical specialists in the presence of a medical physician through audio-visual or teleconference facilities. Therefore, it focuses on saving a substantial cost incurred in terms of nursing services from any healthcare institution. It also reduces the additional cost of diagnosing charges in the healthcare institutions (University of Miami Health System, n.d.). Hence, the process tends to be beneficial for both patients and the medical practitioners by a large extent. Disadvantages of Real-Time Telehealth Application Technological Requirements In the context of obtaining appropriate and effective healthcare benefits, the real-time communication facility requires efficient source of broadcasting media such as, telephone or internet facilities. Therefore, the application might require expert substantial amount of investment in the short run so as to acquire the required raw materials. Furthermore, with the incorporation of the communication technique, the medical staffs would either require developing their technical understanding regarding the application or availing a continuous assistance from technicians for the proper functioning of the communication system. Furthermore, the communication process also makes it mandatory that the other end of the receipt should also be able to facilitate the technology which can otherwise limit its scope (Nemeth, 2008). Appropriate Usability Real-time communication service in telehealth involves certain technological features which can also create significant obstacles during the conversation between patients and medical experts. Hence, during the application of real-time communication, the patient and the interpreter physician must know the appropriate usage of telehealth system in terms of choosing telehealth facility (Nemeth, 2008). Lack of Sensory Stimuli Sensory stimuli of appropriately examining the disease or human errors can be considered as one of the major limitations of real-time telehealth service. The real-time communication facility involves teleconferencing and videoconferencing methods which might not be adequate to clearly identify the exact problem of the patient as it does not allow diagnosis through various methods and therefore, becomes restricted as a consultation and information gathering procedure. With this concern, the real-time telehealth service can consume longer time to identify the exact problem and might also cause the threat of wrong treatments (Nemeth, 2008). Financial Aspects of Real-Time Telehealth Application The real-time telehealth service can further be considered as one of the most advanced and beneficial healthcare technologies that facilitate overall betterment in the medical service deliverance process through effective communication. It not only assists in augmenting the patients’ ability to access consultation at a broader perspective but it also offers financial benefits, especially for the patients, obtaining reliable healthcare facility from medical experts across different geographical locations. It also provides cost effective services for each patient to reduce their medical expenses. For instance, in order to obtain healthcare consultation from experts located in a different country, the patients no more require to travel and bear the cost of fooding and lodging along with other legal expenses in the foreign region with the virtues of real-time communication (Health Telematics Unit, 2002). Taking into account the recent technological advancements, the real-time telehealth service encompasses the implementation of a range of information technologies as well as clinical applications which are relevant to store vital medical data, diagnosis information and to consult with specialist medical practitioners across different location. Therefore, the process can be observed to reduce a significant amount of medical expenses for the patients in terms of availing effective healthcare benefits. In the present day context, the real-time telehealth involves numerous media options including telephonic consultation, video conference, healthcare kiosks as well as cell-phones which tend to significantly reduce the increasing healthcare costs. Thus, it can be recognized that the real-time telehealth system is one of the major financially effective and feasible approaches within the modern healthcare services (Health Telematics Unit, 2002; Hutcherson, 2001). Security Concerns and Legal aspects in the Real-Time Telehealth Application Studying the development of telehealth applications, an expansion beyond the national boundaries through its extending network of rendering healthcare benefits can be observed. During its various healthcare initiatives, the process was observed to be surpassing or rather eliminating the organizational, economic as well as jurisdictional limitations facilitating the achievement of greater liability and responsibility of medical practitioners towards the patients in the global context (Hutcherson, 2001). However, the existing formation of telehealth service may not be appropriate with regard to the complexities in the modern day health care facilities (Canada's Health Informatics Association, n.d.). Contextually, numbers of challenges can be faced during the application of telehealth and its different applications such as the real-time communication in relation to the quality standard of the service, superiority of jurisdiction and identification of liabilities associated with innovative healthcare facilities. Moreover, the challenges may also be faced due to the inconsistencies involving existing policies implemented in various jurisdictions. Additionally, in various jurisdiction structures, incorporating telehealth application are subjected to licensing and other legal validations which again creates a constraint of complexity, time-consumption and huge requirement of investment concerning the real-time communication and other similar practices (Asadi & Akhlaghi, n.d.). Conclusion With reference to the above discussion, it can be affirmed that telehealth services offer significance advantages to the modern day healthcare institutions. This can be better identified examining the role of real-time communication in today’s healthcare industry. As a matter of fact, today’s healthcare industry is rapidly growing not only in terms of diversified services, but also in terms of wider network, responsibility and accountability. Consequently, the healthcare industry, in the global platform, often has to face significance challenges owing to the improper allocation of resources which limits the treatment facilities concerning a particular disease in a specific region. Hence, this leads to the inaccessibility of patients to the required information as well as causes financial constraints in availing the required services at a high price. It is in this context that telehealth services in terms of real-time communication facilitate the reachability of consumers to appropriate, reliable and sufficient information regarding the disease and the related treatment procedure. It also serves the patients with a comparatively cost-effective and time-efficient process rendering the opportunity to consult with experts at distinct places through teleconferencing. However, from the managerial perspective of a healthcare institution, it can be observed that real-time communication process imposes inevitable limitations for the medical practitioners in terms of investment requirements and accuracy of the treatment methods. Even though the process seems to be a cost-consuming procedure for healthcare organizations in the short-run, the technological advancement is likely to yield better returns in the long-run performances. Nevertheless, there are various legal as well as security issues related to the implementation of telehealth practices which an organization needs to take into concern while implementing strategic method to incorporate such facilities in its service deliverance process. References Asadi, H. & Akhlaghi, H. (n.d.). Ethical and legal aspects of telemedicine and telecare. Retrieved from http://www.pardis.ir/articles/pdf/p06148.pdf Canada's Health Informatics Association. (n.d.). Legal aspects of telehealth. Retrieved from http://www.coachorg.com/en/ctf/resources/LegalAspectsofTelehealth.pdf Daya, K. (2011). TeleHealth-Way of the future. Retrieved from http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/article/telehealth-way-of-the-future.html Health Telematics Unit. (2002). What are the benefits of telehealth? Retrieved from http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/telehealth/Benefits_of_Telehealth.htm#ECONOMIC BENEFITS Hutcherson, C. M. (2001). Legal considerations for nurses practicing in a telehealth setting. The online journal of issues in nursing 6(3). Nemeth, C. P. (2008). Improving healthcare team communication: building on lessons from aviation and aerospace. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. University of Miami Health System. (n.d.). What is telehealth. Retrieved from http://telehealth.med.miami.edu/what-is-telehealth U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. (n.d.). Telehealth. Retrieved from http://www.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/about/telehealth/ Read More