The Role of Telehealth in Chronic Disease Management
In recent years, many technology-based solutions targeted at increasing the efficiency of the workflow have been widely integrated into healthcare. The adoption of online pharmacies, Telehealth, online lab booking, smart RFID tags, etc., are few solutions that have been incorporated in the operation of various divisions like clinics, Point of Sale (POS), pharma manufacturing, medical stores, among others.
What is Telehealth? Telehealth is an umbrella term that covers many aspects of digital health-related solutions. It consists of Telemedicine, Teleconsultation, Telemonitoring, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), etc. Teleconsultation is used for screening of new diseases, and Telemonitoring is used for monitoring of chronic diseases. Telemedicine refers to the platform that allows the doctor and the patient to interact. Telehealth also includes non-clinical administrative tools for patient and provider training. Usage of electronic devices for the treatment of patients also falls under this category.
What is a Chronic Disease? A disease that lasts for three months or longer is generally classified as a chronic disease. Examples of chronic diseases include obesity, Type 2 diabetes, Asthma, Mental illness, and heart disease.
Challenges Faced By Chronic Patients: • Mobility Issues: • Sometimes, patients need to travel a long distance to visit the doctor. Patients with chronic conditions tend to have trouble traveling long distances and remain seated during the travel. Problems with mobility, poor health infrastructure, or their own health condition may make it more difficult to visit doctors frequently. • Age Factor: • This problem is made even worse by the fact that the prevalence of chronic conditions increases with an increase in age, which means that the elderly population has the greatest risk for carrying chronic diseases.
• Frequency of Follow-up Visits And Cost: • The number of follow-up visits is higher for chronic patients. This drives up the cost even higher. • Self-monitoring: • Another major challenge is that the patients need to monitor their blood pressure levels and blood sugar levels by themselves throughout the course of the treatment.
How Telehealth Solves Unique Challenges Faced By Chronic Patients? • All these worrying trends have compelled healthcare providers to look for solutions that reduce the cost of chronic disease management without compromising the quality of care. • Telehealth offers one such promising approach. It is now seen as the most encouraging technology for chronic disease management as it reduces the frequency and sometimes needs of in-person visits.
Reduction Of In-person Visits:
Convenient and Costeffective:
• Very few Telehealth visits require • Telehealth can also help in making further in-person inspection. As chronic-disease care systems less this paper in Neurology claims that expensive, thus helping more patients only 5% of patients needed further in- to access affordable healthcare. The convenience and cost-effectiveness of person examination. Telehealth have boosted its adoption rate significantly.
Remote Monitoring: • Via Telehealth, doctors can utilize mobile devices and other smart digital tools to monitor a patient's condition remotely. Telehealth delivers care remotely and timely. • This is immensely beneficial for chronic patients. Wearable devices are utilizing advanced electronic sensors and cloud-based technologies to monitor activity and send information to the caregiver in real-time. This extends continuous care to the patients' homes.
Easy Storage of Medical Records: • Telehealth enables clinics to store and disseminate medical records. Easy access to patient records allows doctors to analyze patient reports conveniently. • Telehealth also opens avenues of providing specialized care locally by enabling local doctors to collaborate with experts. This opens the door to technology transfer between doctors across the globe and revenue sharing between hospitals. This is often described as "decentralized care."
Future Scope: • VR (Virtual Reality) • 5G • AI • Sensors
Conclusion • Telehealth is especially beneficial for chronic patients as it improves follow-up care, remote monitoring, and virtual visits. It also ensures better accessibility and allows health service providers to treat patients remotely.
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