Peer Responses – Telemedicine

Peer Responses – Telemedicine

Response 1

Hello,

Undeniably, telemedicine has changed healthcare, and it is not just about ease of use. One step towards fair healthcare is getting medical advice and care without having to travel. This is especially true for those who live in remote or disadvantaged areas. Using this technology in heart failure treatment shows how important it is to monitor and control chronic conditions. The technology can also eliminate the distance patients have to travel and reduce wait times. Telemedicine speed and efficiency are shown in the TIM-HF2 trial, and how it can reduce unexpected cardiovascular events. Additionally, telemedicine’s impact on patient outcomes is demonstrated in specialized care like stroke management. Telehealth solutions work when it comes to improving diagnosis accuracy and administering therapies like IV thrombolysis in stroke networks (Kandimalla et al., 2021). By reducing unnecessary hospital transfers, these solutions improve patient outcomes and maximize healthcare resources.

However, integrating telemedicine into traditional healthcare is not without its challenges. We need to address issues like digital literacy, reliable internet connectivity, and established processes to ensure telemedicine is available to all. Telemedicine can drastically reduce healthcare costs by reducing medication errors and unnecessary trips. Nonetheless, we need to make sure these savings do not come at the expense of comprehensive care.

In my view, a hybrid model that combines telehealth services and in-person visits will be the future of telemedicine. Combining the best of both traditional and digital healthcare delivery models will ensure patients get the best care possible for their individual needs (Ramnath et al., 2021). We should apply what we have learned and the telemedicine breakthroughs as we move into the post-pandemic era. Subsequently, this will build a stronger and more inclusive healthcare system.

References

Kandimalla, J., Vellipuram, A. R., Rodriguez, G., Maud, A., Cruz-Flores, S., & Khatri, R. (2021). Role of telemedicine in prehospital stroke care. Current Cardiology Reports, 23(6), 71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-021-01473-8

Ramnath, V. R., Hill, L., Schultz, J., Mandel, J., Smith, A., Morris, T., & Friedman, L. S. (2021). An in-person and telemedicine “hybrid” system to improve cross-border critical care in COVID-19. Annals of Global Health, 87(1). https://doi.org/10.5334%2Faogh.3108

Response 2

Hello,

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in telemedicine, which was a substitute for traditional healthcare delivery methods. In resource-constrained settings with higher COVID-19 mortality rates, this was critical for managing chronic conditions. It also reduces exposure to the virus. Telemedicine platforms play a big role in emergencies, as evidenced by the drop in mortality rates since their deployment (Bhaskar et al., 2020). I agree there are two advantages of telemedicine. It reduces disease transmission and allows doctors to see patients faster. Infectious disease and chronic condition management have benefited a lot from this approach during the pandemic. In addition, telemedicine can improve patient outcomes, as seen in the example where key decisions on the level of treatment can be made while the patient is being evaluated remotely. One example of how telemedicine can fill in the gaps in urgent care is when a patient with comorbidities is immediately referred to the ER. This ensures patients get the interventions on time.

Another benefit of telemedicine is its ability to provide continuity of care and psychological support. Access to mental health support is more important now than ever because of the pandemic’s effects of isolation and uncertainty (Smith et al., 2020). To provide this support and make healthcare more holistic, telemedicine was essential. Telemedicine should be integrated into regular healthcare procedures moving forward to support in-person appointments. The quality and accessibility of healthcare can be improved by this hybrid approach, more so for those who live in remote areas or have mobility issues. To maximize the benefits of this technology, we need to ensure access to telemedicine services, address digital literacy, and improve internet infrastructure. We can build a more robust and flexible healthcare system that serves all populations by building on what we learned during the pandemic.

References

Bhaskar, S., Bradley, S., Chattu, V. K., Adisesh, A., Nurtazina, A., Kyrykbayeva, S., Sakhamuri, S., Moguilner, S., Pandya, S., Schroeder, S., Banach, M., & Ray, D. (2020). Telemedicine as the new outpatient clinic gone digital: Position paper from the Pandemic Health System Resilience Program (REPROGRAM) International Consortium (Part 2). Frontiers in Public Health, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00410

Smith, B. M., Twohy, A. J., & Smith, G. S. (2020). Psychological inflexibility and intolerance of uncertainty moderate the relationship between social isolation and mental health outcomes during COVID-19. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 18, 162-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.09.005

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PEER RESPONSE 1

I have yet to have the chance to do a telemedicine visit during clinical, but I used it during the COVID-19 pandemic when my 3-month-old daughter had a skin rash. It was great to have the provider see my daughter and answer my questions without having to leave the house and expose her. Telemedicine falls under the broader category of telehealth and focuses on providing clinical services. Both telehealth and telemedicine encompass a range of services, such as medical education, remote patient monitoring, patient consultations through video calls, wireless health applications, and the transmission of medical reports and imaging. Telemedicine offers benefits such as reducing American healthcare spending by decreasing medication misuse, unnecessary emergency department visits, and prolonged hospitalizations. Telemedicine has revolutionized patient access to care, granting resources and support to those in rural or underserved areas while also reducing patient travel and wait times (Gujranwala & Pelkowski, 2021).

Peer Responses – Telemedicine

One example of telemedicine improving patient outcomes is increasing access to specialty stroke care. Studies have shown that telemedicine stroke networks improve the accuracy of diagnosis, increase rates of timely IV thrombolysis treatment, and reduce interhospital patient transfers (Barbosa et al.,2021). Telemedicine has also been proven to be a game-changer in improving patient outcomes, particularly for heart failure patients. By utilizing telecommunication messaging and videoconferencing for remote patient management, significant strides have been made in enhancing the care of heart failure patients. The TIM-HF2 (Telemedical Interventional Management in Heart Failure II) trial, involving 1,571 participants, illustrated the remarkable impact of telemedicine. The study revealed a substantial reduction in days lost due to unplanned cardiovascular-related events, underscoring the effectiveness of telecommunication tools in revolutionizing heart failure care. (Barbosa et al.,2021).

PEER RESPONSE 2:

The use of telemedicine increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic and offered a new alternative to the delivery of healthcare services (Bouabida et al., 2022). Due to high mortality rates of COVID-19 infections and the lack of a vaccine, telemedicine gave patients and providers a way to manage chronic medical conditions and protection from contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. During the beginning of the pandemic, a study in China showed that areas with limited resources and healthcare access compared to the areas with adequate access to healthcare facilities had higher fatality rates from COVID-19 (Bouabida et al., 2022). However, after the introduction of telemedicine platforms, these areas reported a significant reduction in the mortality rates (Bouabida et al., 2022).

I recently had the opportunity to use telemedicine to care for a patient with COVID-19. I’m grateful that we now have the technology and the ability to care for patients with infectious diseases without the worry of that patient spreading it to providers and staff in the practice. The benefits are two-fold. Telemedicine gives the provider the ability to evaluate the patient and determine the level of care needed at that time (Bouabida et al., 2022). It also improves the effectiveness of interventions and quality of care while providing the psychological support needed for patients with chronic health conditions. In the case of the patient that I saw using telemedicine, I determined that they needed to be evaluated in the emergency department (ED) due to comorbid conditions of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. This patient was at increased risk of serious complications, and I could not conduct a physical exam and auscultate her lungs to determine if she had pneumonia. Telemedicine improved her outcomes with COVID-19 because if she had waited longer to be examined in the ED and treated with Paxlovid, the infection may have progressed to the point where she required mechanical ventilation (Bouabida et al., 2022).