Essentials of Telemedicine in Nursing

Contents

The healthcare industry is in the midst of tremendous change as the adoption of newer technologies rapidly gains momentum. The pandemic accelerated that adoption and even spawned a new type of vaccine that took a fraction of the time to develop compared to vaccines before. One of the most promising technologies transforming healthcare is none other than telehealth. Simply put, telehealth uses digital communication technologies to access healthcare services remotely.  

The growing footprint of telemedicine has been a shot in the arm for nursing. As more people continue to access care remotely, the nurses have been at the front lines helping to deliver care themselves or coordinate the delivery of care. Nurses have already been using telehealth extensively in settings such as schools, commercial establishments, hotels, post-acute care facilities, etc. Telemedicine is also providing an efficient way for nurses to attend to patients with chronic or acute medical conditions. In this blog, we will explain how incorporating telemedicine in nursing can help lower healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes to a great extent. 

Telehealth and Telemedicine are novel technologies that are being rapidly adopted by the healthcare industry. While the ideas behind them existed years ago, it took a pandemic for everyone to realize their importance. The two technologies have been shown to address challenges in access to care and other inequities. So what are they?

The term telehealth is a broad one that encompasses a wide array of technologies and services to deliver patient care. These services are delivered remotely, and the people giving and receiving care communicate digitally over the internet using smartphones, tablets, and computers. In addition to actual clinical services, telehealth also includes disseminating health education and health information for patients and medical professionals, encouraging collaboration among multiple doctors, training health workers, and so on. All of these are carried out remotely through the internet and telecommunication channels. Remote patient monitoring, health applications on smartphones, and virtual consultations are some examples of telehealth.

On the other hand, telemedicine is the diagnosis and subsequent delivery of care to patients remotely through telecommunications. So, it is safe to say that telemedicine is a subspace of telehealth, and telemedicine strictly refers to the practice of medicine remotely. At the same time, telehealth is an umbrella term consisting of activities and elements of the overall healthcare system carried out over telecommunications mediums.

Although a novel technology, telemedicine has become highly popular among doctors and patients. Several telehealth technologies that were little more than concepts took off during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this section, we will explore the benefits of using telehealth software in detail.

I. Improved Continuity of Care

Patients who have had extensive surgery or are recovering from serious conditions must stay in touch with their doctors regularly. Booking regular appointments and waiting for consultations and follow-ups repeatedly over months can be highly inconvenient.  

Telehealth solutions can accelerate the entire lifecycle of the continuity of care following major procedures or treatments. Patients would no longer need to go to a clinic for follow-up consultations. A telehealth solution or technology platform will let them book appointments online and have virtual consultations. Doctors can recommend tests or change prescriptions without having to see patients physically.  Moreover, an app for telemedicine in nursing will help larger clinics deploy their nursing staff and serve more patients in recovery.

II. More Patients For Providers

No-shows for appointments can be frustrating for providers and also bad for patients. A digital platform for telemedicine helps to reduce the number of missed appointments significantly. This is because such telehealth apps enable people to connect with their physicians from anywhere using their smartphones or computers. Additionally, people living in distant locations can also get a virtual consultation using a telemedicine app. This is a major revenue multiplier for providers as they will experience a broadening of their patient base. In other words, telehealth software systems provide a win-win for patients and providers.

III. Reduction in Cost

For providers, things like front office staff, waiting room, and manual appointment management add to the overhead. However, telemedicine software solutions integrated with practice management system solutions help providers with private practices avoid the overhead. Patients can use telehealth mobile apps to schedule online appointments and virtual consultations. This will eliminate their need to come to the clinic physically and for providers to operate with minimal staff. As a result, there is a considerable reduction in cost for providers in the long run.

IV. Greater Access to Mental Health Therapists

Mental health is growing to be one of the most pressing public health concerns in the United States. Tens of millions of Americans have admitted to suffering from at least one mental health problem. However, many of the country’s population live in locations without a single therapist. They are forced to drive long distances for therapy. Telehealth solutions will enable patients to connect with providers and have therapy online remotely. Additionally, the patients can receive care in the privacy of their own homes. This also encourages more people to open up about their struggles and cope with their situations better.

V. Better Access to Specialists

People living in remote rural locations suffer from a serious shortage of specialists. They often have to travel long distances for appointments and follow-ups. But Telemedicine app development services will enable people living in underserved locations to connect with specialists at major hospitals.   

The ability to speak to cardiologists, oncologists, nephrologists, and other medical specialists will reduce the healthcare inequity in the country. 

VI. Reduced Exposure During Epidemics/Pandemics

The value of integrated healthcare solutions with telehealth was realized during the COVID-19 pandemic when the government imposed curfews. This was important to curb the increasing spread of infection and keep people safe. This was when telehealth software came to everyone’s rescue. The Pandemic made it risky to visit hospitals since they are the places one was most likely to contract the coronavirus. People needing consultations could have them virtually through telehealth software from their homes. In other words, such software solutions helped curb the spread of infection.

We’ve already seen the potential of telehealth technologies. Care providers are increasingly encouraging the convergence of telehealth with nursing. Let’s understand what role telehealth occupies in nursing:   

• Incorporating the telemedicine process into daily operations has given nurses new tools to connect with patients and improve healthcare access for all. 
• Telehealth nursing platforms have reduced geographical barriers, delivering nursing care facilities to those living in rural areas. 
• Self-measurement devices in telemedicine help nurses monitor vital signs such as blood glucose, blood pressure, or heart rate remotely and decide if immediate care is necessary. 
• With telemedicine technology, alarms and notifications alert nurses when patients need support at home and they use video monitoring to monitor their recovery.
• Nurses equipped with telehealth can help multiple patients manage their conditions virtually, without coming over to the clinic physically.
• Telemedicine technology allows nurses to share patient data with healthcare providers in real-time, connecting patients to the best specialists from around the world.
• Telehealth enables nurses to deliver care to elders living in retirement communities who cannot travel to hospitals for routine medical checkups. 
• Nurses can educate patients on dietary choices, medication, follow-up consultation, and so forth virtually from a remote location.

We’ve seen the potential of nursing clubbed with telehealth and how it can help the healthcare industry. But when it comes to the actual care process, telehealth can offer nurses a shot in the arm. In this section, we talk about how telemedicine can empower nurses. 

Today, telehealth solutions are growing, and healthcare providers are keen on adopting these services. Many integrated healthcare solutions incorporate telehealth in their range of services. In nursing, telemedicine solutions offer a myriad of benefits, which are-     

I. Educating the Elderly about Telemedicine

Telehealth in nursing isn’t just about care delivery but also includes other support services. The senior population, who aren’t well-versed with technology, requires support from nurses. Telehealth apps or software that works as a communicative tool enables nurses to explain and educate older people about using a telehealth platform.

Moreover, telemedicine in healthcare nursing also allows nurses to give attention to their queries from time to time.  It’s well known that seniors aren’t as technically adept as others. So nurses need to provide basic training for helping seniors use telemedicine platforms, and it goes a long way in helping increase their access to care. 

II. Not Bound to One Department, Explore More Areas

Nurses working on location at a hospital or clinic are too busy to explore other healthcare areas. Telemedicine nurses can learn state-of-the-art therapies in care delivery. This will allow them to grow and learn more. It is often said that upskilling is necessary in a world disrupted by technology, which also holds for nursing. A hidden advantage of telemedicine is that it allows nurses to branch out to other departments at hospitals and diversify their skill sets. 

III. Build a Better Relationship with Patients

The telemedicine system for nursing improves the patient-provider relationship. Nurses get more time with patients and can support them without formal hospital rules. Patients get help for diseases and mental support for trauma related to the disease.  The best part is that patients can reach out to doctors virtually and get their queries resolved at any time without having to book another consultation. Experts agree that telemedicine can improve the overall patient experience. 

IV. More Flexibility in Work

Nurses often report feeling overburdened with work. Reports highlighted that nurses are also willing to quit due to excessive pressure. However, telehealth solutions give more flexibility to nurses. This is not at all surprising since telehealth and individual telemedicine technologies help nurses, as well as doctors, serve more people. Being able to treat non-urgent cases from home reduces the volume of patients to deal with at hospitals, which helps the staff do more. The pandemic pushed the healthcare system to its limits, and telemedicine allowed nurses to help patients without coming over. To sum it up, the flexibility derived from telehealth helped the patients, nurses, and doctors.  

V. Quicker Health Access

Quicker health access is one of the most important benefits of telemedicine in nursing. In traditional nursing, nurses had to wait to deliver care per schedule, which led to a decline in patient satisfaction. However, nurses can ensure quicker health access and better patient experience with telemedicine solutions.  As people can connect with nurses remotely, it eliminates the need to travel to the clinic physically. It has provided an excellent means of extending care to people who have difficulty traveling or those who live in remote, rural locations. Moreover, patients don’t feel like they need to wait since they’ll be at home doing whatever they want until their turn. 

As we’ve seen earlier, telemedicine has demonstrated enormous potential to address many challenges in the healthcare industry. Telemedicine in nursing also helps in improving population health management and patient engagement systems. But that’s not to say that there aren’t challenges associated with implementing telemedicine itself. This section explores some of those difficulties.

a. Lack of Tech Knowledge

In the U.S., the population of baby boomers is increasing. The use of advanced nursing telemedicine services has the potential to keep track of the elderly population’s health. But the main barrier is the lack of smartphone accessibility. Senior patients have smartphones, but they aren’t tech-savvy enough to control telehealth apps or software.  Nursing telemedicine support services are bound to be used by people from all walks of life. However, not all of them can operate smartphone applications. Designing a user-friendly interface for the same is a challenge in telemedicine, and it needs extensive market research, knowledge of the targeted customers, and innovation.

b. Reimbursements Constraints

Another barrier that many nursing centers are interested in telemedicine is reimbursement constraints. Reimbursement issues in telehealth nursing led to revenue loss, and the nursing center might end in losses, and expenses will increase to tackle this issue. So, health leaders suggest opting for a vendor who can customize their telehealth nursing app/software. Besides, nursing providers must ensure that their telehealth services are HIPAA compliant solutions to avoid such issues.  

c. Lack of Training

Nurses in telemedicine require proper education and training on handling the telehealth system. If nurses aren’t tech-savvy, delivering care virtually is impossible. So, the nursing provider needs to train and educate nurses to improve their telehealth nursing. Apart from care delivery, managing other tasks in telemedicine apps also requires training, especially in electronic data exchange or medical records management.  

This might pose a problem for people who aren’t good with using technology – both nurses and patients, and it could directly affect the quality of care being delivered.  

d. Licensing Issues

Nursing centers adopting telemedicine often fear licensing problems, and Telehealth apps and software must comply with HIPAA or other regulatory policies to ensure its validity. And failure in licensing is a big step back in adopting telemedicine in nursing. Even every practice management adopting such virtual care solutions must comply with these regulations.  

Telemedicine in nursing is a little different from regular healthcare delivery. In nursing, it’s more about regular tracking and supportive care. Chronic, post-surgical patients, senior people, or behavioral health patients require regular nursing support. Moreover, this nursing care must be accessible, and searching for quality within the same must also be easier for patients.  

RNs and scheduling appointments impose problems in getting easy health access. However, telemedicine in nursing is the silver lining to these problems. Telemedicine in nursing care also improves health access and overall patient experience with multiple benefits.     

I. Special Care to Chronic Patients

Chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension require constant tracking of body vitals. Telemedicine in nursing can manage this in chronic patients. Nurses and chronic patients can interact at their convenience. Moreover, alongside advanced telemedicine, nursing care providers can also invest in integrated healthcare solutions to enhance their quality of care.  

The result – patients can get in touch with nurses with a few clicks and get clarification about any aspect of their care. People with chronic conditions can eventually change healthier lives, and rest assured that help is just a call or click away. 

II. Faster Access to Care

Telehealth software systems in nursing make access to quality care in no time possible. Telemedicine apps are the mode that allows patients to connect with nursing care anytime. Faster access to care means speedier recovery and better patient experience. These telehealth apps help patients find suitable nurses every time they need one through healthcare automation solutions. The best part – people can connect with nurses even if they live in another city. Distance is no longer a problem in finding medical help quickly.   

Improved access to care for all people irrespective of their location is perhaps the biggest advantage of telehealth.  

III. Critically ill Patients Stay Risk-free

Patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s require constant attention, and these critically ill patients can get timely and regular care with telehealth nursing practice. Moreover, nurses need to ensure that their patient health records are managed well for these patients. Nursing providers can utilize healthcare analytics solutions or healthcare interoperability to share and track patient data, and this data will aid in the patient’s future care.

IV. Saves Time and Offers Flexibility

Of all the benefits that improve health access, advanced telehealth solutions in nursing save time for both entities. Patients need not travel to the nursing center or wait for the nurse to visit. Just one video call and patients get access to care in no time. Besides, patients also get flexibility in choosing their nursing care services. All these boost health accessibility.  

When people no longer feel the need to travel, they are less likely to flock to the biggest hospital. They could contact nurses at any clinic or ambulatory care center for help. It means lesser waiting times for people and reduced burden for nurses in large hospitals since fewer people would turn up in person.

V. Cheaper for Patients

Care cost is a big aspect for patients. Some patients can’t afford adequate nursing care due to financial constraints. But telehealth apps can change this. Telehealth nursing services will cost less than traditional visits and this indicates that telemedicine in nursing improves health access.  Access automatically goes up when costs come down, which is extremely important for people who can’t afford care. So, in addition to improving access by eliminating geographical barriers, telemedicine also removes many financial obstacles.

Nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and retirement communities are filled with people who might be unable to seek care alone. Such organizations house the aging population needing constant care and observation. Custom healthcare software solutions for telehealth can act as a remote health monitoring system for seniors.

The country’s rapidly aging population will have grown to tens of millions by the end of this decade. But the number of caregivers for this population hasn’t kept up. In light of this, software for telemedicine in nursing can address this challenge. Telehealth technology for senior nursing facilities would enable seniors at these care facilities to connect with nurses at hospitals or other agencies.  

Software for telemedicine in nursing can bridge the gap between the number of elders and the care they need. Using this, administrators at senior care centers can connect with nurses remotely and facilitate preliminary check-ups or help with clarifications. The nurses can be a part of a hospital or a home care agency. Either way, a digital platform for telemedicine in nursing will go a long way in improving the quality of life and clinical outcomes for seniors. 

• Nurses can use telemedicine platforms to virtually monitor over 25 patients at a time. 
• Nurses help manage clinical workflows by keeping virtual consultations for non-urgent cases. 
• Simple queries of patients are easily resolved in minutes over a video call by the nurses.
• Nurses accept in-take forms, acquire patients’ health histories, and act as intermediaries to ensure that virtual consultations go on smoothly.
• Nurses help patients navigate healthcare applications and assist with troubleshooting.  
• Nurses use telemedicine development in nursing to help patients through post-acute care for faster recovery and better health management.

Telehealth is rapidly expanding its footprint across the healthcare industry. The role of nurses in telehealth can be traced back to the second half of the previous century. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) used an early form of telehealth to track astronaut health while they were in space. As the years passed, nurses began to take up an increasing amount of responsibility by collecting health vitals over the phone and triaging.  

Later on, triaging over the phone grew into a steadily increasing degree of care from remote locations. Today, that role has expanded to include most ambulatory care centers and large hospitals. Doing so helps to relieve the burden of doctors so that they may focus more on patients who are physically present. As remote triaging increased, it allowed clinics to manage the volume of patients better. 

The pandemic has resulted in the widespread use of telehealth applications. Telemedicine in nursing now includes nurses in the same room as patients to check vitals and communicate with doctors virtually. Nurses act as the eyes and ears of the doctors, administer medication to patients, and coordinate real-time care with doctors. A single doctor can work with multiple nurses over a wider geographic area and deliver effective care without actually being next to the patients. There are limitless possibilities for people from underserved communities who struggle with a lack of access to specialist care.

 

Telehealth has spawned remote patient monitoring technologies to check signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature and send the data to providers or nurses.   

Telemedicine in nursing can essentially amplify the capacity to deliver care. It cuts down the need for doctors, as nurses can travel to the patients’ locations and connect with doctors over telemedicine platforms. Such a system would be enormously helpful in the following settings –

• Schools & Universities  
• Ambulatory care centers  
• Prisons  
• Home Health  
• Assisted living facilities   
• Hospice care   
• Military installations and battlefield medicine  

I. Video Analytics

Video analytics is a state-of-the-art technology that is reshaping the world of telemedicine. With this technology, patients can use modern web or mobile applications with video capabilities to connect with healthcare professionals in real time. Modern imaging technology in video analytics can diagnose dermatological issues and draw out other symptoms for better treatment options. 

II. AI and MI

AI and Mi technologies are delivering many benefits in the telehealth space. They allow the patient to make sense of their health conditions by themselves, from the comfort of their homes. Instead of traveling to testing centers, patients can compute certain diagnostic parameters. This helps them get faster results. 

III. Cloud

Cloud-based patient connect solutions provide accurate and timely care for isolated patients. Advanced remote monitoring systems analyze patient data for diagnostic observations. Doctors can access these systems from anywhere, making video calls, conferencing with caregivers, and monitoring patients remotely. This allows relatives to interact with the doctor via audio or video calls.

IV. IoT

Smart wearable medical devices and implants enable remote patient monitoring by using IoT technology. They collect data from sensors and transmit it to cloud-based systems. This allows doctors to track vital health statistics and ensure timely care delivery. The frequency, sampling rate, and data transmission requests can be adjusted based on the condition, enabling real-time integration with mobile devices.

There needs to be a framework to incorporate telehealth into medical education. A comprehensive, sweeping policy would go a long way in ensuring an effective education that prepares future batches of nursing graduates to take up responsibilities. Such a framework involves strategizing, preparation, delivery, and appraisal. We will explore each aspect of the components –

a.Strategizing

Nurses must know about all the advantages of using telemedicine and the problems in actually implementing it. Some of the barriers might also be with the patients themselves. For example – patients who are not at all used to technology might reject telemedicine applications outright, or people with learning and developmental disorders wouldn’t be able to learn to navigate telehealth applications. The same thing applies to specially-abled individuals. 

Nurses must know about all the advantages of using telemedicine and the problems in actually implementing it. The hardware and software parts of the problem aside, some of the barriers might also be with the patients themselves. For example – patients who are not at all used to technology might reject telemedicine applications outright, or people with learning and developmental disorders wouldn’t be able to learn to navigate telehealth applications. The same thing applies to specially-abled individuals.  

These considerations limit the use of telehealth technologies. Moreover, not every location might have the required internet speed to support a feasible virtual session with a doctor or a nurse. In light of these issues, it becomes extremely important for nurses to know if or not they can rely on telehealth, and if yes, then to what extent. 

Moreover, there are legal considerations to know. Each state is bound to have varying regulations, and what’s allowed in one state might not be in another. A patient residing in one state can’t have a virtual consultation with a nurse in another state. There are licensing hurdles that prevent this.  

So, a sound strategy is important when implementing a program for telemedicine in nursing at healthcare organizations.  

b. Preparation

After considering all of the concerns, once a strategy has been fixed, it’s time to prepare to implement telemedicine in nursing at the respective organization. It would include establishing procedures and protocols, training the relevant staff about the protocols, setting up the equipment, configuring the software, mock drills, etc.  

The protocols must be comprehensive and address every medical possibility. Some examples of this include – scheduling remote sessions, identifying potential emergencies, ensuring data security of patients, educating patients, and so on.  

This is necessary because nurses would know what to do in every situation. Like an emergency room where doctors know what to do, it becomes necessary for nurses to know the steps in telemedicine.   

c. Delivery

As the name indicates, this phase involves delivering care using telehealth technologies. The delivery involves the diagnosis and care and sets up the stage for two-way communication using devices. Talking to patients in person might feel different than doing so virtually. Younger patients adept at using technology might make it easier for the nurses to interview and diagnose them. However, the same can’t be said about elders who aren’t technically savvy. So, it becomes necessary for nurses to know how to navigate the problem of the technological aptitude of patients. 

A part of their education must include training nurses to instruct patients on the use of telemedicine applications. Moreover, they must also know how to use remote patient monitoring technologies to remotely view, collect, track, and report a patient’s health status. The entire experience must not feel too different compared to a physical consultation for the patients. If that doesn’t happen, the patients are unlikely to prefer using telehealth in the future.  

d. Appraisal

This phase concerns assessing the telehealth sessions based on their impact. This step allows providers and policymakers to gauge the effectiveness of telehealth programs and derive valuable insights on where they can be improved. The evaluation will be carried out on the effectiveness of nurses, providers, and the protocols followed.

This step is essential since telehealth and telemedicine in nursing are still in their infancy. As more data is collected on the matter, providers and policymakers can develop an effective roadmap for expanding telemedicine and implementing it across urban and rural locations.  

Just as nursing became a cornerstone of healthcare back in the day, it is now becoming equally essential with the expansion of telehealth. Telemedicine in nursing will surely grow as technologists, philanthropists, and government agencies come to recognize its role and encourage investments in the same.  

With advances in telecommunication technologies and innovations in mHealth enveloping the country and the whole world, it won’t be surprising to see a future where nurses and doctors coordinate to care for a patient while being located in different cities, states, or even countries. Greater access to care, better collaboration among doctors, faster medical workflows, and reduced inequity in healthcare are some of the benefits that telemedicine in nursing is promising to deliver. With as many advantages, it’s no surprise that telehealth is the future of the medical industry.  At OSP, our experts are ready to help you navigate this new frontier. Get in touch with us to know how our custom telemedicine and telenursing solutions can revolutionize your healthcare practice.