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It’s now convenient more than ever to receive medical attention with recent technological advancements. In the comfort of your home, you can use telehealth to access a healthcare provider. It is a more convenient way to access medicare without traveling or risk your health getting worse. Telehealth also provides the safest way to get treatment while protecting yourself from the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Can You Use Telehealth?

The service is dedicated to increasing convenience in healthcare delivery. Therefore, if you have questions about your medication, feel free to use the service. The service also comes in handy when you notice new side effects or new symptoms crop up. You can also use telehealth for regular follow-ups and refills on your medicine. So you don’t have to come down to the hospital. Save yourself the hassle.

However, you have to see medical personnel if you experience life-threatening symptoms physically. You will also need to do the same if your medical personnel needs to run other tests on you. Physical evaluation requires the assessment of vital signs and physical contact, which is not possible via telehealth.

Preparing for a Telehealth Visit for Allergies

First, get in touch with an allergy provider offering telehealth. Once you have selected your allergy provider, you will need to set up an appointment. At this point, your provider will instruct you on the necessary gadgets and software for telehealth visits. Once you have set up a good internet connection, you are ready for your first visit.

To make sure your telehealth visits go smoothly, you may set up your communication before the set time. Prepare the questions you have for your doctor beforehand. Other things you might do before the telehealth visit is to quiet down your surrounding for better communication and dress according to allow easy assessment. For example, you may wear clothes that allow you to show your skin rash to your immunologist.

Telehealth uses digital information and communication technologies to access health care services and manage your health care remotely. This is through computers and smartphones to access technological platforms like video conferencing. The platforms enable the doctor to schedule meetings and consultations with the patient.

Asthma is a respiratory condition that causes inflammation in your airwaves and narrows them, causing mucus production. This causes breathing difficulties which may lead to frequent asthma attacks.

Managing this condition requires constant health care, consultations with the doctors, and routine checkups. The use of telehealth in asthma treatment is convenient and saves time. The recent Covid-19 outbreak also strengthened the use of telehealth as a mitigation measure to reduce physical contact. This resulted in embracing the use of technology in communication.

In this case, there are two types of telehealth; telemonitoring and Telemanagement. The two have been most beneficial in asthma treatment. Telemonitoring involves transmitting data such as vital signs and treatment documentation that bears information tracking current symptoms and adherence to treatment. Telemanagement involves a virtual consultation with your doctor; in this process, they assess how the medication is fairing and identify possible gaps that need to be corrected.

Health professionals use various platforms to facilitate telehealth. These platforms may include applications, software, or video conferencing facilities like google meet or zoom.

Advantages of Using Telehealth for Asthma

• Health professionals are more accessible. It is convenient for routine follow-up appointments, refill of prescriptions, questions about inhalers or medication, and increased asthma symptoms.
• It lowers the cost of services offered.
• It reduces time travel.
• Has reduced Covid-19 infections in people with asthma, considering the virus affects people with underlying conditions.

The provision of telehealth has come in to help and advance how people access healthcare. Telehealth has shown effectiveness in asthma treatment. This is achieved with the cooperation of the patient and the health professionals. The process has also demonstrated the ability to have access to medical care easily.

The purpose of the research was to understand, evaluate and analyze the modalities used for spine care patients. Telehealth was a primary element of spine care access. It has a successful history of improving patients’ safety, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency. Researchers carried out studies and surveys with patients who got their spine care via telehealth.

Between February and September 2020, researchers used the clinical registry procedure to identify spine patients found remotely at the academic medical tertiary center. This discovery was then published on an online spine care survey where patients were asked about their telemedicine experiences. The doctor that made this discovery ran a statistical analysis and thematic analysis on the Likert scale on a free-form response.

After which, the sociodemographic data was later abstracted and evaluated. The researcher reviewed the questionnaire of about 140 patients who had physical spine care appointments and telemedicine. Patients with medium and low area deprivation missed the physical spine care appointments. This shows that spine care patients rated their telemedicine experience highly.

What is Area Deprivation Index (ADI)?

An area deprivation index (ADI) is a unit used to measure the multi-dimensional status of the socio-economic region, which is linked to a health outcome. In this case, researchers use a patent’s ADI address to determine the area in which they reside.

Researchers found out that 42 percent of spine patients with low or medium socioeconomic status are also likely to miss a physical appointment compared to patients with high socioeconomic status. The total ratio of missed telehealth scheduled appointments is identical across all socioeconomic statuses.

However, telemedicine continues to be a popular method for care access delivery across America. In regions with mental health-related issues, hypertension, acute respiratory diseases, and joint and soft tissue diseases were all virtually treated, increasing telehealth visits.

Patients now understand the medical and health advantages while reflecting on how effective it is compared to a physical doctor’s appointment. This research analysis would help influence future practices and improve easy access to doctors’ and patients’ satisfaction.

Mental health has been touchy, especially in the past when admitting openly to seeing a psychiatrist was a sign of something wrong. However, just when mental health practices were welcomed, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. The world went into lockdown, and public spaces closed down, including psychotherapy and psychiatric offices. With the levels of stress and anxiety recording a new high, something had to be done and fast to deal with the current situation of things.

Therefore, although previously considered and declared unfit for medical practices, Telemedicine got the chance to prove its worth to facilitate mental health. Some of the impacts it has had since then include:

• Reduced the No-show Rate

Telemedicine for mental health has resolved one of the significant long-standing problems in psychiatry, that of patients not showing up for their appointments. Before the lockdown, most patients would make appointments but not show up. Although sometimes it was due to sheer forgetfulness, other times it was pure absconding of the meeting. However, as Telemedicine got introduced as an option, the no-show rate has considerably lowered. This can is due to the main advantage of Telemedicine which is convenience. Patients do not have to fight traffic or inconvenience their busy schedules to see their therapists. With access to an innovative device/internet, they can make their appointments with little struggle.

• It Gives a View of the Patient’s Home Environment

With most people being home due to the lockdown, Telemedicine allowed therapists to see their patients’ day-to-day lives at home and, most importantly, in their daily environments. In the standard setting, the patient having to go to the office took away the chance to experience it firsthand. However, by using Telemedicine, the psychiatrists and therapists get an essential insight into the patient’s life, which helps with their treatment.

Final Word

With the world opening and the restrictions on personal meetings easing up, it will be easier for people to choose what works for them best, having tried both options. The advantage is that they get the help they need in the long run, no matter which option they choose.