Background
I chose telehealth technology because it encapsulates the digital healthcare platform. Telehealth technology promotes better healthcare outcomes, and patients can get instant help remotely. The current population has evolved, and the use of smartphones or tablets is on the rise. People are enlightened about technology, and using telehealth is easier compared to previous generations. I am interested in telehealth because most medical practitioners do not give it the desired attention, yet it is the future of medical insights. I will use bibliographies to enlighten how telehealth can be used and incorporated within the healthcare sector. The bibliographies will educate the practitioners and people on the best ways of using telehealth to affect medical needs. I will provide insights on the importance and limitation of telehealth within every bibliography.
Ding, X., Clifton, D., Ji, N., Lovell, N. H., Bonato, P., Chen, W.,… & Zhang, Y. T. (2020). Wearable sensing and telehealth technology with potential applications in the coronavirus pandemic. IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering, 14, 48-70. Web.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected the global population because it is highly contagious. Over 210 countries have been involved, with cases of fatality going up to 7.2%. Optimization of the health sector is fundamental in ensuring that the COVID-19 is dealt with accordingly. The health status of the quarantined patients can be monitored using telehealth to ensure they are safe and do not infect others. Wearables can improve the patients’ well-being by warning them of vital signs combined with clinical symptomology to enable an individual to know the red flags of COVID-19. Technological advancements in the health sector can note the body changes in asymptomatic patients. Since COVID-19 targets the lower airways hence causing dyspnea or pneumonia, telehealth devices can provide noninvasive continuous respiratory parameters such as lung sounds.
Oxygen saturation is the measure of hemoglobin saturated with oxygen to indicate the functionality of the respiratory system. COVID-19 makes the lungs fill with inflammatory fluids hindering the ability of oxygen passage. When the body gets insufficient, it leads to hypoxia and organ failures. Telehealth systems can use the wearable finger pulse oximeter to measure oxygen saturation (Sp02) levels. It can guide and enable patients to have control of their respiratory system. Respiratory rate (RR) is vital in monitoring illness progression, more so in COVID-19. Patients with coronavirus at times fail to maintain homeostatic measures hence the need for the measurable indicator. Telehealth devices can measure hypoxia and hypercapnia, enabling health practitioners to predict acute events such as unplanned intensive care admissions or cardiac arrest. Wearable devices can efficiently monitor the COVID-19 deterioration process and inform nurses.
Fronczek, A., Rouhana, N., & Kitchin, J. (2017). Enhancing telehealth education in nursing: Applying King’s conceptual framework and theory of goal attainment. Nursing Science Quarterly, 30(3), 209-213. Web.
Nursing care initiatives have increasingly grown, and the continuous synchronization of healthcare technologies with telecommunications has improved the time frame used for interaction between nurses and clients. Telehealth has continually enhanced healthcare education, public health, and initiatives deemed fundamental in ensuring the patient’s well-being. Telehealth imposes video conferencing, remote patient monitoring, store and forward, and mobile health devices (mHealth). The emergence of telehealth provides nurses equitable access to healthcare education for people living and working in remote places. Nursing education instills the art of lifelong learning because its criticality prepares graduates to be well versed with technological advancements surrounding healthcare. Telehealth also equips nurses with the insights of managing data or making appropriate decisions.
King’s theory is a goal-setting achievement in the health sector because it focuses on communications, perceptions, interactions, and any form of transaction between nurses and clients. Technology can couple health promotion and prevent various disease outbreaks hence establishing positive patient outcomes. Therefore, telehealth is the way to go in the current generation. Every nurse must ensure they learn modes of establishing competencies within the telehealth advancements. Faculties of learning should be responsible for preparing their student on a concept related to technology. Failure to do so will result in abacus modes of treatment, and most nurses will find it hard to fit into the technological world. Their treatment orientations will be overshadowed, and their practice will be at stake. Whenever the treatment does not synchronize with the current technologies, then it can turn off patient interests.
Stewart, R., Orengo-Aguayo, R., Cohen, J., Mannarino, A., & de Arellano, M. (2017). A pilot study of trauma-focused cognitive–behavioral therapy delivered via telehealth technology. Child Maltreatment, 22(4), 324-333. Web.
Stewart et al. (2017) posit that at least half of the youth must experience some form of traumatic event before attaining 18 years. The traumatic events include sexual abuse, physical abuse, community violence, violent or unexpected death, and unpredictable backstab from a friend. During such traumatic events, only a few manage to return to pre-trauma levels. Most youths develop mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is an underutilization of mental health treatments among children their families. The use of telehealth technology can enhance Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) in a robust orientation. TF-CBT can be disseminated via telehealth delivery means by nurses to reduce barriers to evidence-based treatments. Trauma exposed youths can be monitored using telehealth systems while in school or at home using technical performance equipment or safety issues.
TF-CBT via telehealth can address the barriers that exist between the caregivers and the underserved youths. Telehealth is interested in laying out the TF-CBT strategies and safety issues are neutralized by treating symptoms of mental problems. Technology-based systems can enable nurses to note every detail of the mental pain, and these insights, when curbed at an early stage, can allow the youths to have healthy lives. The delays make the youths move into extreme circumstances such as engaging in drug abuse to reduce the instability in ideological thinking. Telehealth technology is fundamental in creating digital-based tools that can enable clinicians’ link a vulnerable youth to a suitable caregiver. Telehealth does not compromise the fidelity to treatment models. Privacy in the health sector is paramount, and telehealth provides that security. Therefore, the telehealth delivery model in the TF-CBT addresses unique barriers that manual strategies fail to neutralize.
Traube, D., Hsiao, H., Rau, A., Hunt-O’Brien, D., Lu, L., & Islam, N. (2019). Advancing home-based parenting programs through the use of telehealth technology. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(1), 44-53. Web.
Home-based parenting has demonstrated the impact of child maltreatment, increased school readiness, and promoted the child’s well-being. Cost and timing can make home-based parenting limited. Technology can fill the gap and make Parents as Teachers (PAT) in evidence-based care. Telehealth clinic forms virtual tele-mental clinics that navigators can use to make appointments and videoconferencing technology during the online sessions. The appointments can standardize the online services to support evidence-based empirical formulations such as cognitive behavioral therapy, seeking safety initiatives, and motivational interviewing. Home-based parenting can use telehealth capabilities to meet mental health providers using videoconferencing or virtual sessions. Virtual psychotherapy services can build trust, and the client stands a better chance of having improvements after attending the sessions.
PAT foundation uses the hybrid approach to keep medical records, manage the crisis, report child maltreatment reports, inform parents of simple medical procedures in an emergency, and optimize virtual service delivery. Many kids have undergone circumstances that would be avoided if everyone had informed consent on dealing with some events. For instance, some kids are adopted and abused sexually or emotionally, hence compromising their school performance. When the neighbors get telehealth applications, they can report such cases anonymously. In chronic circumstances, some kids end up with mental disorders of death. On-ground, service delivery enrolls issues intending to make nurses exercise medical settings.
Recommendations
Justification
The primary reason why telehealth has to be utilized by practitioners more often is the opportunity to attract more patients and provide them with experiences that are going to retain them as well. The fact that patient satisfaction can be increased with the aid of telehealth shows that various encounters with technology have to be considered when discussing the potential impact of telehealth on patient outcomes. For example, there are convenient care options that cannot be accessed when providing conventional care, such as reduced wait times and in-house care (Ding et al., 2021). With the possibility to reduce costs and travel times that are usually associated with the traditional care setting, it can be logical to assume that further implementation of telehealth would improve the process of care provision. Greater sympathy for the health system will attract even more patients over time.
Another reason why telehealth would become a great addition to any given care setting is the limitless potential of broadening and deepening care experiences and provision processes. In line with the evidence provided by Stewart et al. (2017), telehealth enhances collaborative efforts and makes it much easier for providers to contact their patients without having them leave the comfort of their homes. Therefore, telehealth can be considered an enabling technology that is implemented in order to distribute available expertise throughout the facility and ensure that every patient has access to care of the highest quality possible at all times.
The advent of telehealth allowed care providers to focus on long-term care coordination and adjust schedules on the fly without canceling appointments as it has been with conventional patient visits that overlapped (Traube et al., 2019). More to say, multi-disciplinary collaboration and communication among providers can be seen becoming way more cost-effective under the influence of telehealth.
Telehealth and Patient Safety
The level of patient safety that can be attained with the help of telehealth is rather high due to the diversity of devices that support the given technology and proliferate instances of its implementation. Patient safety could be monitored through the interface of a multitude of wearables and applications that could be installed as part of the smart home bundle. The Internet of Things keeps care providers connected to their patients at any given moment and leaves enough room for urgent interventions where necessary (Traube et al., 2019).
Regardless of the urgency, patients are safe with telehealth because of the appropriate price-quality ratio and real-time data analysis available to healthcare professionals. The process of digital inclusion is constantly updated in order to maintain high-quality communication between patients and providers while outlining key strategic changes required to enhance patient safety further.
Telehealth and Quality of Care
Telehealth can be seen as directly linked to the quality of care provided to the majority of contemporary patients because of improved accessibility and an easy-to-use structure. For instance, care providers that are active in the rural setting can achieve a more qualitative treatment of acute conditions without any extra expenditures due to the reduction of unnecessary emergency room visits (Stewart et al., 2017). Speaking of the quality of proposed services, it could be essential to point out the comfort of providing care without having the patients travel long distances. On the other hand, telehealth could be utilized to achieve efficient practice and establish an enhanced clinical workflow. In line with Fronczek et al. (2017), this is one of the key predictors of high-quality medical care where digital decision-making positively influences patient satisfaction and care outcomes.