What is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is slowly transforming the way healthcare is delivered. Through the use of telecommunications technology, telemedicine improves patient care by providing doctors with easier access to patients and their data. Telemedicine also allows physicians and health facilities to expand their reach beyond their own offices.
Taking advantage of new developments in telecommunications, lowered technology costs and the establishment of the Internet, the growth of telemedicine over the next five to ten years is expected to have a profound and revolutionary effect on the delivery of medical care throughout the world.
The primary applications of telemedicine are clinical, educational, administrative, and research.
Clinical applications include initial patient evaluations, telediagnosis and teleconsultation. Other examples include physician supervision of non-physicians/residents, etc. and telemonitoring of patient status. Medical professionals, and even patients, can take advantage of tele-education.
Examples of telemedicine may include:
- A live two-way video consult between patient and provider
- The transmittal of medical images to a specialist for interpretation
- The sending and receiving of vital medical records for storage and future reference.
Administrative uses, such as conferences and scheduling, as well as utilization and quality review, may be provided. Telemedicine allows access to the wealth of information available on the Internet, so research is enhanced by the aggregation of data from multiple sources and the telecoordination that may follow between consulting and primary physicians, etc.
Telemedicine can help to transform the healthcare industry into a complete and integrated system that electronically supports the continuum of health care. Remote access to archived electronic scans and other patient records/information, both by the medical professional and patient, greatly enhances the efficiency of the healthcare provided.
Telemedicine is not a separate medical specialty. Products and services related to telemedicine are often part of a larger investment by health care institutions in either information technology or the delivery of clinical care.
Telemedicine encompasses many different types of patient programs and services that involve any number of providers and consumers. In fact, reports and studies indicate that as many as 60 medical subspecialties have successfully used telemedicine, including dermatology, ophthalmology, mental health, cardiology and pathology.
Closely associated with telemedicine is the term "telehealth," which is often used to encompass a broader definition of remote healthcare that does not always involve clinical services. The terms “e-health,” including patient portals (accessible healthcare databases), as well as remote monitoring of vital signs, continuing medical education and nursing call centers are all considered to be part of telemedicine and telehealth.