This article was originally published in www.UnTwistedVortex.com
With current technology making the impossible possible, we see more and more invention in the world of medicine. Imagine getting your vitals taken with an app on your smart phone then sending your vitals to a specialist center within the matter of seconds. The possibility for connection, access and communication become expansive. Telemedicine is the newest and latest medical technology hybrid to emerge. Our generation will have the exciting position of seeing the present and the future butting up against each other as telemedicine alters the way medicine is practiced. What is telemedicine and will it become the future of medicine in every way?
1. The definition of telemedicine
American Telemedicine Association, ATA, uses the terms telemedicine and telehealth interchangeably. ATA is made up of more than 2,000 professionals and corporate members who work closely with an even larger group of medical societies, technology groups and industry leaders.
2. Types of telemedicine
Telemedicine provides healthcare through telecommunications. This might include
- a consumer using a cell phone to upload vital signs to send to a remote medical center.
- a doctor checking on a transplant patient while out of town
- a radiologist interpreting x-rays from clinics on the other side of the United States
Telemedicine capitalizes on contemporary technology's allowance of data to be transmitted in the matter of seconds and the ability of technology's allowance of doctors and patients to be in multiple places at once.
2. Case in point
You live in a small town in the middle of Nebraska. Your nurse practitioner is concerned about a problem your having in your stomach and wants you to see a specialist. The nearest specialist is 3 hours away. Instead of taking a 6-hour car ride, your nurse practitioner can connect you to a specialist via telemedicine. In this connection, you are connected to the specialist while sitting with the nurse practitioner who is able to explain the details of his or her concerns in front you. This communication replaces notes in records and can be much more reliable since the nurse practitioner has your file fresh in mind.
3. The benefits are inclusive and impressive
- the cost is of healthcare is reduced through shared staffing, reduced travel, and shorter or no hospital stays
- the specialist hears your problem and the original practitioner's take directly rather than as a note on a file
- the specialist can treat immediately
- the nurse practitioner learns from the specialist thereby becoming an increasingly affective and educated practitioner for current and future patients
- convenience reduces stress on sometimes otherwise stressful treatment follow-up
4. Revolutionary and highly anticipated
Patients are chomping at the bit for the development of telemedicine. This development will allow treatment for otherwise untreatable patients who cannot leave their homes on regular basis, cannot drive long distances to see specialist and who have not been able in the past to afford treatment. Telemedicine also offers solutions to families who require cardiac or fetal monitoring but who do not want and cannot afford to stay in the hospital for this monitoring. Likewise, medical services can be better outsourced for radiology, stroke assessment, mental health and intensive care making the services more affordable and more accessible.
Time and practice will expose challenges and obstacles to telemedicine, but the overall benefits are sure to outweigh the hiccups along the way. In a short time, we might be surprised to see a completely new way of practicing medicine.
About the author:
Jeni Larson is a guest blogger for Apexrx where you can find tips on staying healthy and saving money.
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