Impact Evaluation Of Telehealth On Patients Health Essay

Impact Evaluation Of Telewellness On Patients Health EssayThis report will show how telehealth has an impact on forbearings but before future reciprocation I would the like to define telehealth.Telehealth is the utilize of electronic cultivation and telecoms technologies to support long-distance clinical health c atomic number 18, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration, and includes some(prenominal) the use of interactive, specialized equipment, for such purposes as health promotion, disease pr razetion, diagnosis, consultation, and/or therapy, and no interactive (or passive) communications, over means such as the Internet, e-mail, or autotype lines, for communication of broad-based nutrition data that does not involve personalized nutrition recommendations or interventions (Busey Micheal, 2008).There argon two more definitions I would like to cast up as following.Use of telecommunications to provide health information and service that is, a health related activity carried out at distance (Conrick , 2006).Telehealth refers to the use of telecommunication technology to remove sentence and distance barriers in the deli genuinely of health bursting charge services (Artinian, 2007).Telehealth enables remote patient management. From many findings, study shows that patients with heart failure riddle who get experience in weight increase or blood pressure would likely involve in negative medical outcomes including expensive infirmaryisation in later stage. But if the patients symptoms bunghole be monitored on daily basis then disease can be diagnosed in early stages which can prevent expensive visit to hospital and patients life can be saved. Telehealth works as following.The evaluation of any information systems especially health information systems are recognized as a complex and challenging activity. There is no agreement on a best way to evaluate, on what and how to evaluate, who to involve, and indoors what paradigm to proceed (Klecun-Dabrowska Cornford, 2001).There are unique challenges for evaluators in telehealth services because they are not all the same and can be measured in separate and different terms. Technologies those are used in telehealth are not mature yet and some of them are still in prototyping stage. These telehealth services are developed by expert and passionate people who are working in the field of medical and other technologies which are related to telecommunication like recording, video conferencing.StrengthsTelehealth has besides enabled efficient distribution of information not only with the patients but overly between health care providers who are divided both geographically or within the introduces. The Utilization this type of technology has been shown to be very speak to effective and has proved in favorable health outcomes for inveterate ill patients. (Fleming, 2007)Telehealth increases ingress to health care especially in remote are as where normal gateway of health care is difficult. It can act as a bridge between the patient and health provider to increase the delivery of care. One of the biggest strength of telehealth is its capability to be an extension of basic health care by enhancing access between the patient and their providers.With the help of telehealth we can be possessed of access to ultra specialized services without transferring the patient. The idea is not transferring patients if we can contribute the service here. It doesnt make sense to transfer a patient only for a diagnosis when it can be done remotely (Gagnon, Duplantie, Fortin Landry, 2006).Telehealth is believed to produce earthshaking savings for remote hospitals and for the health care system. For instance, teleconference can be used to attend administrative meetings, leading to substantial savings on run costs. However, the redistribution of savings between organizations and directs of care is an grave and complex issue (Gagno n et al, 2006).Telehealth can help to systematize on call duties on a regional level medical specialists like x-ray specialist. Therefore, as an alternative, sharing the responsibility for on call duties between specialists of a hospital, telehealth can allow a large number of specialist persons from different health care centers to cover whole region. consort to Artinian (2007) Telehealth helps patients gain more flexibility in scheduling healthcare visits, provides easier and more convenient access to healthcare, and allows patients to have a couple of(prenominal)er time-consuming clinic visits. It also allows patients to receive care in a location that does not require the burden of transportation, and in an environment that is slight threatening than a clinic or emergency de crashment.WeaknessesThere are many barriers in telehealth field. Some states do not allow its physicians to practice outside of the state without getting license from those states first. Reimbursement is also a big reckon in this field as many insurers will not reimburse.According to Gustke et al (2000, as stated by Brown (2005)) fear of malpractice suites is another consideration for physicians, as is acceptance of the technology and lack of hands on interaction with patients, although most patient satisfaction studies to date find patients on the whole satisfied with long distance care.Lack of telecommunications technology is also a big problem in this field. As normal phone line can not supply high bandwidth and there are many homespun areas where they do not have high speed cabling and can not get high bandwidth telecommunication for telehealth.Getting federal funds from the state is also a problem for telehealth projects. telecom companies and technology manufacturers are competing with each other to produce low price tools and bandwidth needed. strike of telehealthTelehealth was developed becauseChallengesTelehealth has the strength to change healthcare delivery but faces many challenges in adoption. Despite the benefit of telehealth, the lack of reimbursement for telehealth is a major challenge in widespread adoption of telehealth. (Bushell, 2007 as stated by Change, 2007).With no pecuniary incentive for healthcare providers to implement the technology, providers are likely to view telehealth as an increase in workload without a subsequent increase in succumb (Bushell, 2007).The respectable issues unique to telehealth relate to the possible impact on the curing relationship which go outside the expected challenges of seclusion and confidentially.The loss of touch, the potential for depersonalization, the potential for exploitation, the possible inequity when distributing the benefits of telehealth services, and the potential burden that this form of new technology may impose on sick and dying patients are some of the ethical concerns that should be considered.Future research and educational initiatives should explore areas of ethical concern tha t pertain to the innovative and burgeoning field of telehealth, and the potential for good and harm that may result. electromotive force themes include the following Improving health care access in underserved populations Professional expectations in meeting a new, higher standard of car Telemedicine as a potential new form of access discrimination Technology as added burden for patients with chronic and terminal illness When virtual visits replace veritable visits The impact of loosing touch on trust and the healing relationship The risk of exploitation when victimisation new and expensive technology Depersonalization in the use of store and forward technology Privacy and confidentiality issues(Fleming, 2007).The use of telehealth has raised many legal issues as well like licensing, liability and reimbursement. Data security is also a big concern in telehealth. As personal data is being transferred from patient to health provider, there is happening of loss of data or could cri minal access that should be considered and prevented. (Wootton, Patil, Scott and Ho, 2009)Bandwidth is also an issue, especially when high feel images need to transfer from patient to health care provider and getting the expert support needed to make sure telehealth meshworks are up and running around the clock is a major challenge for rural programs or those in small hospitals and practices. (Brian, 2009)OpportunitiesThe health sector faces two opposing demands firstly, it should provide extended and reasonable access to high quality health care services secondly, it should also decrease or at least control the rising costs of health care. Telehealth assures and offers the promise of giving people equal access to high quality medical health care at reasonable and affordable cost.Information and communication technology has developed very rapidly in the last few years. There has been rapid growth of the telecommunication market and very fast circulation of the internet. Many hosp itals have developed information systems which help to share information between different health care providers, and now health sharing networks are being developed in many countries to share health information.Population which is change magnitude very rapidly with insufficient health resources has produced demands to develop telehealth and the rapid development of information and communication technology has provided the opportunities to do so. (Wootton, Patil, Scott and Ho, 2009)A telehealth consortium led by the University of California, Office of the President and the UC Davis Health System was formed to create a statewide broadband system. ATT was selected to build a secure medical-grade telecommunications system as part of the California Telehealth Network (CTN). ATT with a three year $27 million contract will provide the Network Services to support the telehealth initiative (Bloch, 2010).According to Dr. Cathryn L. Nation, University of California Associate Vice President f or Health Sciences and Services, the new network is also designed to address healthcare disparities in the state since millions of Californians live in rural and other medically underserved areas in the state where disparities in care exist. CTN will improve their access to quality healthcare services (Bloch, 2010).Plans call for the network to be a peer-to-peer system enabling each member to have reliable, high quality connections with public and nonprofit healthcare providers located in both rural and urban locations. The network will also provide opportunities for continuing education and distance learning for health professionals, along with access to clinical research, and the possibility of access to commercially hosted EHR systems (Bloch, 2010).Positive ImpactTelehealth provides benefits to individual patients, their family members, health care providers, community organizations, governments and health care facilities.Telehealth expands health related skills across geographic barriers use information and communication technologies (Benefits of telehealth, 2007).It improves access to health care providers for remote and rural practitioners. It also provides great access to continuing medical education. It increases access to specialty services for rural patients. Using telehealth, patients can stay in their homes or community alternatively than travelling to hospitals. Telehealth can be used to decrease number of sour appointments due to weather and travel conditions.Telehealth slims time for investigation, diagnosis and treatment through quicker consultations and patients can get real time second opinions (Benefits of telehealth, 2007). It can reduce the cost of healthcare and increase efficiency through reduced patient and provider travel, better management of chronic diseases and fewer as well shorter hospital stays.Remote monitoring and home telehealth have been demonstrated to improve disease management and reduce re-hospitalization and emergenc y department visits (Benefits of telehealth, 2007).In a study that evaluated cost savings among patients using telehealth services in rural Arkansas, investigators found that without the telehealth services, 94% of patients would travel greater than 70 miles for medical care, 84% would miss 1 daytime of work, and 74% would spend $75 to $150 for additional family expenses. With telehealth, 92% of patients saved $32 in fuel costs, 84% saved $100 in wages, and 74% saved $75 to $150 in family expenses (Artinian, 2007).Negative ImpactThere are many barriers in telehealth delivery. Implementation of telehealth infrastructure can be costly, time consuming and complicated initially. There is lack of information and communication technology usage among healthcare professionals in some areas.Telehealth is a complex matter. Organizational factor is another barrier to telehealth. A change is required for doctors and how hospitals operates which could be avoided by some provided by some profess ionals. There could be lack of staff with permit skills for telehealth. A lack of financial support is a major barrier in the research and development of telehealth.Many potential projects, especially in rural areas and in the developing world have been hampered by the lack of an adequate telecommunication infrastructure. Other barriers in telehealth are the legal and ethical issues. These include licensing, privacy and confidentially (Conrick, 2006).Reimbursement or the lack of it is also a barrier for possible telehealth practitioners and there are some ethical and legal issues about telehealth that need to be resolved.StakeholdersThe main objective of telehealth today is to develop next generation telehealth tools and technologies to improve delivery of health care services in underserved areas using information and communication technologies. It also helps to decrease the cost of health care services and increase access to medical related services to the public.Key drivers for these tools and technologies are the need and involution to collaborate among telehealth stakeholders, including patients, patient communities, research funders, researchers, healthcare services providers, professional societies, industriousness, healthcare management/economists, and healthcare policy makers (Ackerman, Filart, Burgess, Lee Poropatich, 2010).Future of telehealthTelehealth is the future of home care. By its nature, telehealth relies on technology and technology is changing very rapidly these days. If we look at the history, new technologies emerged and then used by people to send information across long distances. The high access of mobile devices and different networks on global level means that mobile technologies can be used very efficiently in healthcare field in order to compensate the lack of resources problem.With the proliferation of mobile technologies, mobile health (mHealth) will play a merry role in the rapidly growing electronic health (eHealth) area. (Vatsalan, Arunatileka, Chapman, Senaviratne, Sudahar, Wijetileka Wickramasinghe, 2010).Due to the large number of mobile technologies adoption, telehealth can play a very important role in the rapidly growing electronic health care area and in future lots of the people will be using mobile devices to monitor their health any time. The future of telehealth will give advantages greatly from this technology innovation, especially in undeserved areas and old homes.Recent trends are beginning to push the demand for and the development of new technologies specific to the individual needs of telehealth applications (Brennan, Holtz, Chumbler, Kobb Rabinowitz, 2008)It is 2014 and Mrs Smith has ongoing trouble with her high blood pressure. One first light she wakes with a headache and worries that the reservoir of her implanted drug delivery system may be running down. Her bedside ambient health orb (see www.ambientdevices.com) is a tranquillize green, but she turns to her video wall and asks Cyberdoc, how are my recent blood pressure levels? The simulated voice responds Your records show that the drug reservoir needs a replenish in three weeks time. Your telemetered blood pressure readings have been under control for the past month and todays figures are normal. Your implanted blood sugar detector shows normal readings too. Do you have some symptoms that you want to discuss? Meanwhile Mrs Smiths wall graphs her recent blood pressure readings, and a list of the most familiar 20 symptoms affecting people of her age group in the locality. She responds, No, dont worry. Remind me to book my repeat prescription (for a refill) in two weeks, please. (Wyatt Sullivan, 2005)ConclusionTelehealth has importation potential to address a variety of healthcare problems especially in undeserved areas.Has significant potential to address a range of healthcare problemsNeed to resolve ethical issuesNeed protection of health information and privacy rightsNeed for higher speed and hi gher capacity telecommunicationsGovernment, professional groups in healthcare, and telecommunications industry need to work together to develop some standardsNext-generation telehealth tools and technologies which use internet and its robust computational resources hold big promise for improving healthcare for the persons who are living in undeserved areasNext-generation telehealth tools and technologies that utilize the Internet and its robust computational resources hold great promise for improving healthcare for medically underserved populations, increasing access to specialty services at lower cost, enhancing health literacy, and expanding the healthcare workforce through virtual education and training. Realizing these benefits will require extensive and ongoing collaboration and coordination among stakeholders across the research and healthcare ecosystem. Communication, training, cultural sensitivity, and end-user customization are critical to success. Extending the traditional point-to-point telemedicine model to include newer cell phone and Internet-based telecommunications tools that are increasingly widespread and affordable, even in rural and remote locations, will be key to putting the person in personalized medicine and making research advances available to everyone. Furthermore, we must appreciate system complexity to realize the benefits of telehealth as it evolves toward increasing functionality, integration, interoperability, outreach, and quality of service.The balance of benefits and risks of eHealth for individualpatients and clinicians over the next two to three years isunclear. health care organisations and policy makers need toconsider the issues that will arise. In the long term, eHealthoffers many opportunities for prevention, choice, home basedcare, and chronic disease management, and it will widen accessto health care for most patients.We all need to join thediscussion and decide what we want for the future beforeothers, who could be guided by commercial motives rather thanquality and equity, do so.