Role of Telemedicine Technology in Disease prevention
Telemedicine is the use of communication and information technology to offer healthcare services to people who live far from health care providers. Telemedicine is part of a chain of care that aims to enhance efficiency in health care provision as well as offer quality health care. Although telemedicine still uses telephones for communication and sharing of information, other latest innovations in network and computer technologies are increasingly being used to enhance health promotion and disease prevention. Nurses use this technology in various circumstances, especially when they want to deliver healthcare to remote areas.
Nurses engage in telemedicine practice to intervene, plan, evaluate, and assess the outcome of the nursing care offered. These nurses use technology such as computers, telephones, assessment tools, internet, and telemonitoring equipment to ensure efficient services are offered to patients. Research shows that nurses use telemedicine to provide nursing care for patients who live in remote areas or far from health care facilities (Sirintrapun & Lopez, 2018). As such, telemedicine has helped ensure there is maximum engagement between a patient and his/her nurse.
Through telemedicine, patients can manage and prevent future occurrences of chronic conditions. For instance, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has helped nurses be constant communication with their patients whenever they are suffering from chronic diseases. Sometimes patients can forget their responsibilities when it comes to promoting their health or preventing particular diseases. However, through telemedicine, nurses can easily check on patients and even remind them of their prescriptions. According to Kruse et al. (2017), telemedicine is useful in managing patients’ chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases. This is because patients have more access to healthcare, even when they are living in long-distance places.
References
Kruse, C. S., Soma, M., Pulluri, D., Nemali, N. T., & Brooks, M. (2017). The effectiveness of telemedicine in the management of chronic heart disease–a systematic review. JRSM open, 8(3), 2054270416681747.
Sirintrapun, S. J., & Lopez, A. M. (2018). Telemedicine in cancer care. American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book, 38, 540-545.