Telehealth technology has extended the arms of traditional health care delivery into homes, clinics, and other environments outside the bricks and mortar of hospitals

Module 5 Discussion Question

Among the biggest developments of healthcare is the introduction of technology elements. Telehealth elements in healthcare have aided in improving communication, coordination of care, and also the transmission of various healthcare plans among patients and healthcare givers. Recently, there is increased evidence showing that telehealth technology has helped in extending the arms of traditional care into clinics, homes, and other environments that are outside the bricks of hospitals (Dorsey & Topol, 2016). Like any other improvement, telehealth has also had negative implications, and sometimes, it is unclear whether the de-humanizing effects it has on care exceeds the provision to keep healthcare professionals more connected with the patients.

The truth is that controlled use of telehealth can only help patients to stay more connected with healthcare providers, provided that there is proper monitoring. One of the major provisions of telehealth is the option for educational charts for patients, where healthcare professionals can interact with patients in monitoring the presence of disease (Tuckson, Edmunds, & Hodgkins, 2017). Also, the ability to hold meetings, interviews, and trainings using telehealth platforms is enough evidence that telehealth increases the connection between different healthcare providers.

The only time that telehealth appears to disconnect patients from healthcare givers is when there are no proper communication breakdown between the two parties. These negative elements should be corrected to ensure that doctors can be fully efficient in providing support care services to the patients. This is also possible only if there is maximum communication breakdown between the two parties, where patients also appreciate the value of these telehealth systems and also how to utilize them to benefit fully from them.

References

Dorsey, E. R., & Topol, E. J. (2016). State of telehealth. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(2), 154-161. Retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1601705

Tuckson, R. V., Edmunds, M., & Hodgkins, M. L. (2017). Telehealth. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(16), 1585-1592. Retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1503323