Digital Trends in Healthcare: A Foretaste of the New Era of Science through Telemedicine
The year 2020 saw the horrific consequences of an unprepared healthcare landscape. Fortunately, it also witnessed mankind’s efforts to use everything at their disposal and rise to the occasion as warriors.
The most important trend witnessed recently was the use of Telemedicine.
>3,00,000 Teleconsultations in a day by Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres1
Teleradiology owns the largest share2
iCliniq is the key player in Indian telehealth2
Benefits
Telemedicine has proven to be beneficial in providing better healthcare solutions to HCPs and patients in many ways.
Common Uses4
The adoption of telehealth in routine practice allows HCPs and patients to be flexible.
Some of the common uses of telehealth are:
Follow-up
- Ensures compliance with on-protocol treatment patients
- Management of chronic conditions
- Post-operative wound care
- Group education consultations for prediabetes patients
Behavioural Health
- Connecting patients to a specialist in remote areas
- Routine follow-ups on mental health problems
- Psychotherapy appointments
Avoiding Transport
- Access care for patients
- Mobility barriers
- Emergency care for established patients with low-risk infections
- Long-term patients who are out of town
- Pre-orthopaedic surgery prep
- Expand access to fast track clinical trials
Establishing Norms5
In order to achieve best practices, here is a list of certian norms that can be followed.
- Overall cost of telecommunication system
- Practical training of medical professional
- Prepare for confidentiality breach due to possibility of data leak
- Better connectivity to avoid network issues
- Better quality patient records (e.g. X-ray, lab reports, etc.)
Success Parameters6
Some of the important metrics to determine the success of incorporating telehealth
in practice include:
Goals Include Achieving Lower
Things to Focus on
Did You Know?
Post-COVID, telemedicine use has significantly increased with people above the age of 45 being the biggest beneficiaries7
According to AMA, 72% of physicians use telehealth to deliver reatment8
80% of doctors conduct these consults in clinic8
Summary
- Telemedicine is drastically changing the healthcare landscape with the aid of digital innovations and technology.
- Some of its key benefits include comfort, convenience and management of primary care, chronic care and infectious diseases.
- Its adaptation into our routine practice requires the measurement of success parameters. Some of the goals include increasing patient satisfaction during virtual consultation, limiting the waiting time of the patient for consultation and focusing on practical training for HCPs and staff.
References
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Available at:
ttps://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1817592#:~:text=More%20than%203%20lakh%20telecon sultations,1.8%20lakh%20teleconsultations%20per%20day. Accessed on 2 August 2022. - Research and Markets. Global Telehealth & Telemedicine Market. Report. 2022. Available at:
ttps://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5203904/global-telehealth-and-telemedicine-market -by. Accessed on 4 August 2022. - Johns Hopkins Medicine. Available at:
ttps://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/benefits-of-telemedicine. Accessed on 25 July 2022. - American Medical Association. Available at:
ttps://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/ama-telehealth-playbook.pdf. Accessed on 2 August 2022. - RxDx. Available at:
ttps://rxdx.in/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-telemedicine-in-rural-areas/. Accessed on 25 July 2022. - American Medical Association. Available at:
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital/how-gauge-your-physician-practice-s-te lehealth-success. Accessed on 2 August 2022. - Statista. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1252614/india-consumption-of-telemedicine-services-by-age-group/. Accessed on 2 August 2022. - American Medical Association. Available at:
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital/inside-big-variations-telehealth-use-amo ng-physicians. Accessed on 2 August 2022.
