In today’s modern age, technology has impacted many sectors of society, from how we reach family and friends to how we work in our offices. The medical industry has been keeping itself up to date with technological modifications too. A recent development has been the digitization of healthcare services.
Many individuals are using a new mode of receiving care called telehealth. Telehealth proves to be promising as it has gained popularity quite fast. This has made medical care more accessible and easier for many people.
This article outlines how Telehealth changes how we receive medical care, both benefits and limitations.
Table of Contents
The Benefits
With devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops, people can receive care wherever they are, with good internet. It is a step in the medical industry as it embraces the technological shift. Below are some of the benefits of Telehealth.
Flexibility
Since telehealth services are solely offered online, making and having appointments is very flexible. The traditional office visits limit the hours in which you can have a meeting. Most have strict office hours in which you can see a practitioner.
Through Telehealth, a person can book an appointment at any time as advised by the doctor, attend it, and get an online prescription without the limitation of office hours. This benefits those who have to work throughout the day and may not be able to escape to visit the doctor’s office. This also offers flexibility to the doctors as they can book more clients in their day and prioritize those with significant conditions.
Cost-Effective
Often, online appointments with doctors tend to be cheaper than physical visits. Patients with minor conditions or those requiring consultations can book online appointments and cut some of the costs. This also helps those driving long miles to the doctor save on fuel and other traveling expenses. In most cases, practitioners are more likely to charge less when it is just a Zoom call since none of their resources are being used.
Reduced Traveling Time
Telehealth being services offered online, the traveling time is cut completely. You can have your appointment in your sitting room; therefore, you do not need to travel long distances to acquire the required services. This leaves you with space in your schedule to do other maintenance tasks you may be having. Doctors who need to do checkups for home patients are also at an advantage as all they are required to do is schedule a call, and they can do a follow-up on the patient.
Improved Access to Healthcare
Telehealth provides a way to provide medical services to everyone regardless of location. Not everyone has the privilege of easy navigation or access to a health facility. This could be due to poor roads or the distance is just too long. People in remote areas requiring a lot of traveling to get to a doctor can now access quality services in their homes. Some practitioners are scarce in some locations, which means that many patients are delayed in medical care, which may worsen their condition. With this new means of offering care, you can meet in minutes, and instructions or prescriptions can be given.
Few Missed Appointments
It is common for people to miss appointments due to various reasons like traffic, lack of transportation, or bad weather. Every appointment missed becomes money thrown down the drain. With Telehealth, it becomes easier to get to appointments as there isn’t a lot of movement required. Simply hopping into your device on the set time with good internet, that’s it. This method can not be disrupted by bad weather conditions, bad roads, traffic, or missing the bus.
All you need to do first is to check your device’s working condition to minimize the chances of a technical breakdown during the appointments. Additionally, many of the terminally ill patients may get overwhelmed year in and year out of making visits to the hospitals resulting in them missing out on some. However, when this process is streamlined through telehealth. But remember to keep up with in-person visits once in a while to have a physical assessment of your health’s progress.
Treating Transmittable Diseases
Telehealth is excellent when it comes to treating transmittable diseases like Covid-19. It aids in stopping transmission when traveling and also keeps both parties safe. This will also keep other patients in the hospital safe from the contagious disease. Some practitioners may be hesitant to offer medical care to such patients, but when done online, it gives a sense of security for them.
Health practitioners can prescribe medicine for highly transmissible infections, viruses, or diseases using telehealth technology. The patient does not need to be In physical contact with others to get the prescriptions as there are home delivery services for prescribed medication. Telehealth ensures everyone’s health is secured by minimizing physical contact that would aid transmission.
Better assessment
Some practitioners can offer better care during video calls when treating a patient. During the call, allergists can get clues to your allergy triggers by observing your home and pets. They can decipher your reaction to certain items in the house and make better assessments. This may be beneficial in some fields, although not all. In patient care, you could miss out on some observations that emerge from your home environment. The healthcare provider then takes a closer look at your living style then helps you to make changes that would greatly aid your health such as allergies.
Family connections
In some cases, information about the family may be required to make an assessment. Through Telehealth, you can invite a family member to join the conversation to offer insights on areas of information you may not know about. This is because it is offered through video calls and Zoom, which are easier when connecting with members who may be very far away. With the developing technology, getting information has been made easier.
Primary Care Management
Regular visits with primary care practitioners are essential for your family’s health. Some telehealth centers are programmed to set an appointment with the next available practitioner, which will help save the amount of time you have to wait when booking appointments.
The Limitations
With all the benefits of Telehealth, there are also some limitations. Given that it is fairly new, its disadvantages may outweigh its advantages, but the trend has been positive. Telehealth gets better by the day. Let’s discuss some of the disadvantages of Telehealth.
Technical Difficulties
Working on mobile phones or laptops requires a good network connection. With it, the appointments would be possible to attend. This is one of the most significant issues, especially for those in areas with weak or unstable connections. A traditional office does not have these, as meetings are one-on-one. It also suggests that they can only attend an appointment if they know how to use these gadgets.
Restricted Access to Physical Testing
Having online appointments suggests that the practitioner cannot administer physical testing if they deem it necessary. These include X-rays, blood testing, MRIs, and CT scans. These will require physical visits to access them.
Inequities in healthcare
Telehealth assumes that everyone has access to the required gadgets. This may not be the case for most people needing more facilities. Many may not be connected to the network as many activities are through calls and Zoom calls. This may open inequity gaps as the less privileged cannot acquire these services. Reserving medical care to those who can afford it would be unfair.
Miscommunication
Clinicians and practitioners often rely on body language and non-verbal cues when diagnosing patients. This is because some people may not be able to communicate verbally. Some of these cues may be missed during the video call, leading to misdiagnosis of the patient. Medical care requires a complete understanding of the patient to offer the best solution.
Loose guidelines
Some companies may opt to provide telehealth services with unqualified clinicians. It is important to check whether the person offering you care is qualified to offer that service. Only go for professionals you know of or one with good reviews. Unqualified practitioners may give a misdiagnosis that may make matters worse for you.
Knowledge is Required
Telehealth being offered online means that it will require specific software for it. This can be tricky, especially for older people who need to become more familiar with using gadgets. Teaching them how to use the gadgets may be strenuous and costly, and most will prefer the traditional in-visits. This implies that Telehealth is only accessible to those with the expertise in operating these gadgets.
Some of the benefits we have discussed include treatment of highly transmittable diseases, the effectiveness of cost as the process is done online, flexibility for the patient and clinician, and reduced traveling time for patients in remote areas or those that can only receive services from a practitioner who might only be available in a certain country. It also helps minimize the number of appointments missed due to unavoidable circumstances.
It provides quality medical services for those in remote areas who need access to a clinician. Some of the challenges it may have include technological difficulties for those who need more expertise to operate the systems; it requires a learning curve by teaching people how it operates. Some companies may offer unqualified clinicians due to stringent guidelines on the facility. There might be a communication barrier between the patient and practitioner due to missed cues.
