I first became familiar with telemedicine during the peak of the pandemic when doctors’ offices were closed to in-person appointments. I made an appointment to see my primary care provider over a secure video call. While the appointment was productive and convenient, it felt somewhat impersonal. This feeling was somewhat inevitable since it was my first telemedicine appointment and with Covid-19 lockdowns in place, everyone seemed so distant and unreachable. Ultimately, I knew the telemedicine was a useful tool for both patients and providers. I also recognized how necessary this platform is for patients who are unable to see their healthcare providers in person, and what a difference it could make in allowing patients to receive the care they need. I was unfamiliar with what telehealth entailed prior to Professor Goran’s presentation on these topics. I assumed it was similar to telemedicine but did not know of the distinguishing features. Telehealth focuses on “non-clinical services remotely” while telemedicine focuses on “the practice of medicine using technology to deliver care at a distance” (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2022).
Telehealth and telemedicine started many years before Covid-19, which surprised me since it seemed that it really became more accessible to a wider population during the pandemic. When it was discovered in the early 2000s that there was a large number of patients dying from human error, Congress made it clear that something had to be done (Goran, 2022). A “culture of safety” developed and guided the changes that were needed to be made to prevent errors in the clinical setting (Goran, 2022). One aspect of healthcare that became glaringly obvious to the Leap Frog Group, which is a “national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care,” was that the majority of the population was aging, and there wasn’t enough healthcare staff to cover the needs of this patient population (About Us, 2022). This prompted the development of eICU’s, and TelICU where ICU patients are monitored remotely by a nurse and physician and can closely monitor any changes that occur over a 12-hour period (Goran, 2022). These telehealth and telemedicine programs offer the ability for the healthcare team to be focused on patients on a consistent basis and notify the on-site team if there are any changes that need immediate assistance (Goran, 2022). Not only have these services given a high level of monitoring, but during the pandemic, telemedicine prevented any lapses in care that were caused by office closures and shutdowns.
By learning more about the possibilities with telehealth and telemedicine, it is my hope that we will be able to close the gap in staffing shortages, and better address our patients’ needs. While we cannot rely on these services alone to help care for our patients or critically analyze patient’s data, it is a helpful tool that will certainly affect how we operate as a healthcare team in the future.
About Us. (2022, January 12). Leapfrog. https://www.leapfroggroup.org/about
American Academy of Family Physicians. (2022). What’s the difference between telemedicine and telehealth? https://www.aafp.org/news/media-center/kits/telemedicine-and-telehealth.html#:%7E:text=Telehealth%20is%20different%20from%20telemedicine,to%20remote%20non%2Dclinical%20services.
Goran, S. (2022, March 23). Telehealth & Telemedicine [PowerPoint Slides]. Department of Nursing, University of New England.
