Telemedicine in Healthcare

To discuss the benefits of telemedicine in healthcare, it is essential to understand what telemedicine is or how it is applied. Telemedicine is any medical service or activity involving a doctor and patient interaction through telecommunication, providing medical advice, and other relevant services (1). It can be called an e-health branch using communication technology and networks to deliver education related to the medical domain and services from one location to another. It helps to overcome complications, such as shortage of resources and infrastructure and uneven distribution of medical services. Approximately half a century ago, it was considered an unaffordable and unreliable technological invention. However, the rapid growth and advancement of information technologies and telecommunication led to a solid foundation for telemedicine in healthcare, considering it a reliable, feasible, and valuable telecommunication. Even healthcare practitioners and professionals from different medical specializations have talked about the success and benefits of telemedicine in the contemporary world (2).

Benefits of Telemedicine in Healthcare

Telemedicine aims to provide medical services remotely and helps in various areas, such as remote monitoring, following virtual consultations, and connecting patients with healthcare professionals. Many benefits of telemedicine are available for healthcare professionals and patients, which will be discussed in this section.

Convenience and Access to Healthcare Practitioners

Patients can receive medical assistance in the comfort of their homes as telemedicine is convenient and allows them access to any healthcare provider, making it easier for people to connect with and have appointments with foreign doctors without traveling long distances. On the other hand, telemedicine plays a significant role in rural areas or regions where poverty is high. It provides access and improves the quality of medical care. Also, the initiation of telemedicine in such regions acts as a support network for various communities. It helps increase their awareness of health and medical services and change perceptions toward local hospitals. Therefore, telemedicine effectively spreads medical resources that are limited across a large geographical area and increases the accessibility of resources for rural residents along with the enhancement of medical care quality in small hospitals (5).

Control and Prevention from Transmission of Infectious Diseases

At the time of viral pandemics, including influenza and covid, government restrictions on the public regarding mobility and social distancing led to complications for patients, especially patients with acute and chronic diseases, to avail medical services from healthcare professionals. It’s a fact that if patients do not receive appropriate medical attention and assistance in the long term, it may result in serious health risks. Hence, telemedicine can help consult such patients to maintain health during pandemics (3). For instance, telemedicine became crucial during the covid-19 pandemic for delivering patient services. It allowed medical care to reach patients’ homes while keeping unaffected people safe from covid and helped to guide suspected individuals to maintain self-quarantine (6). Also, healthcare practitioners working remotely wouldn’t have to worry about exposure to viral infections carried by patients.

Cost-Saving Healthcare for Patients

Telemedicine is time and cost-effective as it significantly saves time and cost towards medical products and services, leading to patient satisfaction. For instance, personal or public transport may be a hassle for people; thus, telemedicine saves travel time and transforms into savings for their families. Furthermore, many patients and their families must take time off from jobs or other life tasks to attend appointments. Telemedicine helps to follow appointments from anywhere and whenever they are free. In the case of follow-ups, patients do prefer telemedicine as an effective way for them. Also, the time spent in waiting areas before and after the appointment and going to examination rooms is eliminated due to telemedicine in healthcare (4).

Additional Revenue for Healthcare Providers

There are times when a patient is unable to reach the appointment for several reasons, and ultimately provides a free slot to the healthcare professionals and increases the waiting time for the next meeting. To eliminate this factor, telemedicine can help practitioners spend that free slot serving patients through digital telecommunication; hence, it helps the practitioners gain additional revenues. Not only does it increase the income, but it saves the relationship with the patient and not losing them to the other care provider as it can be jeopardized by an increase in patient’s waiting time, limited physical capacity of the clinic, and shortage of staff.

Improved Efficiency of Healthcare Management

In the case of improving the efficiency of the management related to healthcare practice, one of the best ways is to utilize various software according to its availability in the country for telemedicine. Using those software helps practitioners connect with many patients without increasing job hours while maintaining flexibility. In the case of emergencies, telemedicine becomes a platform to attend emergency meetings with patients between their scheduled clinical appointments. Alternatively, they might keep a specific time for the virtual interaction depending on how the practitioner wants to work. Many professionals work in more than one hospital or clinic, so they must travel to different localities within the same day. Such situations require immense energy, effort, and traveling time, so telemedicine can be a savior as healthcare providers can work from one location and fulfill their responsibilities at the other through online or remote phone and video calls. Undoubtedly telemedicine is a benefit in these areas; however, practitioners have to create at least a 10-minute remote meeting to record every important detail about the patient along with a fixed charge.

Conclusion

The high demand and satisfaction of people and healthcare providers regarding telemedicine has proved to be an excellent asset for the present and future. According to a report in 2018, it has been observed that due to telemedicine, the growth rate of a year falls between 13% to 27%, and it indicates that the growth of value will reach more than $20 billion in the coming years (7). However, on the contrary, with advantage and profit comes drawbacks that need to be identified and resolved simultaneously so that the popularity and effectiveness of telemedicine are continuous and enhanced.

References

1. Wootton, R. (2001). Recent advances: Telemedicine. BMJ, 323(7312), 557–560. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7312.557

2. ‌Sood, S., Mbarika, V., Jugoo, S., Dookhy, R., Doarn, C. R., Prakash, N., & Merrell, R. C. (2007). What is telemedicine? A collection of 104 peer-reviewed perspectives and theoretical underpinnings. Telemedicine and E-Health, 13(5), 573–590. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2006.0073

3. ‌Kadir, M. A. (2020). Role of telemedicine in healthcare during COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries. Telehealth and Medicine Today, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.30953/tmt.v5.187

4. ‌Williams, A. M., Bhatti, U. F., Alam, H. B., & Nikolian, V. C. (2018). The role of telemedicine in postoperative care. MHealth, 4, 11. https://doi.org/10.21037/mhealth.2018.04.03

5. ‌Potter, A. J., Ward, M. M., Natafgi, N., Ullrich, F., Mackinney, A. C., Bell, A. L., & Mueller, K. J. (2016). Perceptions of the Benefits of Telemedicine in Rural Communities. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 1–13. https://media.proquest.com/media/pq/classic/doc/4142408531/fmt/pi/rep/NONE?_s=%2FmGkZuosVeVCw7%2ByByOvzDkAFj0%3D

6. ‌Colbert, G. B., Venegas-Vera, A. V., & Lerma, E. V. (2020). Utility of telemedicine in the COVID-19 era. Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, 21(4), 583. https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm.2020.04.188

7. ‌Waller, M., & Stotler, C. (2018). Telemedicine: a Primer. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports, 18(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-018-0808-4