Telemedicine and Digital Health in Modern Healthcare Systems HLT4302

The Role of Telemedicine in the Healthcare Industry

The healthcare industry is rapidly advancing and new technologies such as telemedicine is being introduced which is enhancing the quality of life for the patients. Telemedicine is a technology which makes use of digital platforms and telecommunication technologies to provide personalised medical assistance to the patient from the comfort of their homes. This is an emerging digital technology which has gained much importance especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Evolution of Telemedicine

Going back to history, in 1990s radios were used for providing medical consultation for people in ships. However, there were significant barriers in providing effective medical guidance to such patients due to less advancement in technology. A study conducted by an industry in 2011 reports that telemedicine services in Australia were initially restricted to people who had access to digital technologies and were living in extremely rural or remote areas. In addition to this, Australian Digital Health Agency also proposed a national digital health technology in 2017 with the aim of integrating healthcare services with digital technologies to develop new models of care (1). However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Australian population inclined towards using telemedicine services for receiving prompt medical assistance remotely. This was considered as the safest mode for providing medical guidance to the patients considering the contagious nature of the infection.

Types of Telemedicine Services

There are different categories of telemedicine services according to the requirements of the patients namely synchronous telemedicine, asynchronous telemedicine, remote patient monitoring and mobile health (mHealth) (2). Synchronous telemedicine services involves the use of video conferencing or phone calls to engage in real-time conversations with the patient and provide medical assistance. In contrast, asynchronous telemedicine services, patients and healthcare providers use online forms or emails to address the medical concerns of the patients at their own convenience (3). Remote patient monitoring involves using digital devices where vital parameters related to the patients health such as blood pressure, glucose levels are monitored and recorded to immediately identify changing trends in the medical condition of the patient and provide them with timely medical intervention (5). Recently, mobile health applications (mHealth) have gained widespread popularity among the Australian population where patients use these applications to keep a regular check on their lifestyle changes, medication adherence and symptoms.

Benefits of Telemedicine Services

The implementation of telemedicine services in Australia has been very advantageous as it is cost-effective, easily accessible, convenient and consistent. A study conducted by (6) discusses the positive impact of telemedicine services for providing high quality medical care to patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. This not only helps in regularly monitoring the patient but also helps in increasing medication adherence among such patients. Similarly, another study by (7), involves a systematic review where the outcomes of the paediatric patients were evaluated based on the telemedicine services. It was observed that telemedicine services were more effective than in-patient services due to increased convenience and accessibility.

Challenges of Telemedicine Services

There are various challenges involved in implementing telemedicine services such as technological glitch, privacy and confidentiality, regulatory issues and resistance by the providers. A study conducted by (8) shows that there has been an increase in the number of patients who shifted back to in-face consultations due to difficulty in conducting videoconferencing, telephone calls while receiving medical guidance by telemedicine services. Another cross-sectional study by (9) shows that 66% of the participants who used interpreters were less likely to opt for telehealth services in comparison to English speaking patients.

Stance on Telemedicine Services

Despite the shortcomings in the area, I stand convinced that the advantages of telemedicine far outweigh the disadvantages with issues like technology access and privacy. The efficiency of this technology has been proved as the successful disconnection from the classical approaches to healthcare provision, especially during such a critical situation, as the COVID-19 viruses pandemic. The emphasis on these concerns is to be made on the improvement of patient and provider education and training. Because people may have more trust and confidence in engaging with telemedicine services, we are therefore opening a great gate way to achieve a better healthcare especially in the future.

Impact on Pharmacy

Telemedicine services in pharmacy have brought tremendous improvement in patient care and medication regimen. Studies have also shown that telemedicine using pharmacists would increase medication compliance and decrease adverse drug reactions. A study by () involved a randomized control trial on telemedicine integrated for hypertension care reported that telemedicine interventions for hypertension improved the patients blood pressure control compared with usual care and was accompanied by better levels of medication adherence. Also, telemedicine enables pharmacists to conduct telehealth consultation, particular medication reviews that give appropriate interventions and patient counselling, resulting in better patient health status and reduced health expenses. This integrated use of telemedicine in pharmacy practice is crucial in growing points of access to care especially in rural areas.

Impact on Patients/ Consumers

Telemedicine has brought about positive effects as a service by improving patients and consumers access to healthcare in general and especially in the rural and hard-to-reach areas. Telehealth research shows that patients are satisfied with timely and convenient care delivered to them without travel especially clients with mobility challenges (9). It has been found out that the use of telemedicine can in fact enhance the health outcomes because of effective doses and chronic diseases compliance (10). However, now there are still issues regarding technology accessibility, technology privacy, and security. These problems hence need to be solved so that telemedicine gains can be availed to all patients across the healthcare system to increase equity.

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