Updates: The Benefits of Telemedicine
With the rise of COVID-19 telemedicine has taken off. This is mainly because most hospitals, doctors’ offices and healthcare facilities are trying to limit the amount of foot traffic in order to slow the spread of the virus. Many have adapted incredibly well and have even found it beneficial to have such easy access to healthcare with telemedicine.
There are several benefits to telemedicine, but how are hospitals and clinics implementing these benefits to help their patients?
Increase Patient Engagement
The notion behind patient engagement is about helping their health outcomes, providing better quality patient care and overall lowering the cost for their treatments. This combines the patient’s symptoms, communication and skills to manage their health safely with healthcare professionals always there in need of assistance.
This is exactly what telemedicine provides for patients. The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has nurses who are dedicated to providing services through telemedicine technology. The telemedicine nurse is the pediatric primary care center. The children call the nurse to tell them their symptoms and can show them the problem. Through this way of communicating, nurses can offer their expert opinions on whether a doctor needs to visit the child’s room for an evaluation.
Follow the video to learn more.
More Accessible For Rural Patients
Telemedicine helps in rural areas of the world because there could be a lack of physicians and specialists in the area. Instead of a patient driving for several appointments within a month or longer, they can video chat with the physician for check-up appointments.
Healthcare Saving Costs
A study from the American Hospital Association highlights shows a lower healthcare costs overall for patients and healthcare professionals while increasing their quality of care and access to physicians. This helps with making one less doctor visit for the patients. This not only helps physicians see more patients in person, but allows for nurses to see patients as well.
This also helps patients save more money each visit! In 2017, the University of California, Davis stated that telehealth (a form of telemedicine) saved over $3 in travel costs over a nine-year period! Just imagine how many rural patients can benefit from this! A simple trip to the doctor could happen a couple times a year and in-between cost-effective video chats could take the place of expensive doctor visits.
Better Quality Patient Care Quality
This is possible because physicians and nurses are available in a touch of a button. One in five patients say they have switched doctors because of wait times. The longer a patient waits, the more upset they get and increases the chance of them never returning. They missed work, canceled plans, set up a baby sitter and other possibilities for a doctor’s appointment. This is where telemedicine can change all of that. They can take a quick lunch break, stay home with the kids and no need to cancel plans.
This can be implemented with all of the examples that are explained above. At the end of the day, these benefits and others all provide better quality patient care quality.
Telemedicine is super helpful in the long run when it comes to healthcare, but it is especially helpful in unprecedented situations like we are currently going through. During COVID-19 and in other situations when someone might not be able to go into a healthcare facility, telemedicine is making all the difference.
