mercredi 22 août 2018

The Benefits Of Making Available Telemedicine Services

By Carol Sanders


People who live in rural communities often face a dilemma when needing medical services. They often must either drive dozens of miles if not more to the biggest town with a hospital or doctor's office. Alternatively, they may decide to go without the care they need to feel better. Both choices can put a strain on a rural family's physical, emotional, and financial well-being. They could be better served if telemedicine services were available in their communities.

If you have never before heard of this service, you might wonder what it is and how it can impact you as a patient. As its name implies, it is a type of telecommunication service that ports in medical consultations with doctors, nurses, and specialists from all over the country. You do not have to drive to a big city or to another hospital to get treatment or go to a meeting. The meeting can take place virtually.

These meetings are also facilitated in part by another healthcare worker, usually a nurse or nurse practitioner, who works in a mobile medical unit. This person may not only drive the mobile unit. He or she may also provide basic healthcare services like blood pressure checks or glucose meter readings for people who live in the town or county. As part of a person's appointment, the practitioner might use Skype or another virtual service to meet virtually with another healthcare provider in a bigger city or at another hospital. It essentially eliminates the need to have that physician or specialist on the premises.

The services also come in useful to hospitals and medical clinics in rural locations that might otherwise be cut off from mainstream medicine. Doctors in these facilities do not have the time to travel miles away to consult with a specialist. Likewise, they cannot take up valuable patient time by calling specialists on the phone or reaching out by email.

The service also permits specialists working miles away to view your patient charts without having them mailed, faxed, or emailed to them. They can see everything that is going on with you as a patient and then give advice to your physician about how best to proceed with your treatments. You might even be able to receive care for diseases like cancer and heart disease in your hometown rather than needing to travel for miles and hours.

As this service is perfected, more healthcare organizations want to make it available in all areas of the country. Some private hospital groups are granting smaller facilities money to set up the services in their locations. The money can even be used to install and maintain wireless Internet connections. It spares these facilities from having to rely on dial-up or broadband Internet services that are not as reliable.

The government is also doing its part to offer this type of care. It likewise gives out grants and loans to facilities that want to establish this level of care. It could transform the manner in which rural patients receive medical care in the near future.

The opportunity to meet with a specialist or doctor via a virtual meeting often cannot be passed by today. More doctors in rural towns are using telemedical services to improve the manner in which patients are treated. These services connect physicians in small cities with specialists in larger locations. It also connects mobile units to medical facilities in big cities.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire