Tag Archives: covid-19

Telehealth For Maternal/Prenatal Health Services

Telehealth visits are a great way to improve prenatal and maternal care.

Telehealth is a term that describes the delivery of health care services using technology, such as video chat or online consultations. Telehealth can improve access to care, reduce costs, and improve the quality of care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have delivered service to their patient’s thanks to telehealthcare. Furthermore, pregnant patients are more likely to die from COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. More severe forms of COVID-19, pre-term birth, and transmission of COVID-19 to newborns are all complications associated with a COVID-19 disease during pregnancy.

Telehealthcare has become more common in hospitals in the past few years. In addition to being less expensive than in-person visits, telemedicine can help patients with trouble traveling or mobility issues. One study showed that telemedicine visits are associated with higher quality care than face-to-face visits. A recent study found that most patients were more satisfied with their care when they received telemedical services than face-to-face visits.

Telehealth visits are becoming more and more popular as a way to improve prenatal and maternal care. Using telehealth visits by pregnant women is beneficial in many ways. For example, Telehealth can help reduce patient anxiety by accessing information through remote communication with their doctor. It also gives them time to gather information on their own and then discuss it with their doctor. Additionally, Telehealth can help improve the quality of prenatal care since doctors can provide more personal attention to their patients during these visits.

According to the researchers, Telehealth could be a viable strategy for improving maternity care delivery, increasing patient satisfaction, and reducing health disparities.

Telemedicine has grown increasingly prevalent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological advancements, particularly communication technology, have made virtual care possible. Medical professionals can now conduct diagnoses and offer treatments to patients through a screen. The medical industry is torn in half, with one half claiming in-person care while the other half exalts the benefits of telemedicine. Administrative burdens and employee burnout have led many medical professionals to seek alternatives to help them and their patients. Could telemedicine be the solution to medical staff burnout and shortages? Let us find out:

Staff Burnout

Most medical professionals work six-hour shifts, taking up two or three changes. The medical industry has the most overworked employees because the average person’s workday is only eight hours. Working twelve or eighteen hours a day, six or seven days a week, could lead to burnout. Many medical professionals say they have lost passion for their work and would like to work elsewhere. With telemedicine, medical staff can have more freedom as they do not have to go to the hospital to meet patients. The team can adapt patient sessions to suit their lifestyle, allowing them a better work-life balance that reduces burnout.

Staff Shortages

Medical facilities have been in dire straits since the pandemic. The shortages are causing employees to work more, leading to burnout which causes employees to quit creating an even more significant need in an increasingly growing negative cycle. With more staff wanting to leave their jobs, staff shortage will be worse in the future. Telemedicine could help many medical professionals work at their convenience, allowing them to treat patients properly. It also attracts people to the industry, which can help address staff shortages.

Medical professionals often suffer from burnout which leads to and is caused by staff shortages. Telemedicine is a solution worth considering to address medical staff burnout and shortages.

Introduction

Drastic innovation is the central theme of healthcare technologies. Telehealth solutions have been around for some years but came to their best use during the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advancements in healthcare technology have brought about the use of:

• Digital tools
• Telehealth
• Electronic medical records
• Artificial intelligence

To transform our healthcare services and make them more efficient. Some of the beneficial uses of telehealth are:

• To the providers, you get the opportunity to reduce no-show rates and service more patients
• To the patients, you get an increase in care accessibility and a cut back on traveling and wait time
• To the payer, you get a cut back on the cost of transport and also low costs due to receipts for more timely care.

Telehealth and electronic medical records

This is a stepping stone to the evolution of healthcare. It is game-changing for professionals and patients for communication and access to care. Telehealth will extend beyond episodic treatment into chronic illness management and maintenance. Electronic medical records can be used to record data centrally in an online location, which helps keep track of individual health trends and more accurate care. This allows patients with greater access and convenient maintenance.

Digital tools

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us the necessity of real-time, error-free data and the benefits of a healthcare system capable of displaying data without delays. Digital tools help in;

• accessing and analyzing data
• making critical forecasts
The usage of a digital tool like;
• Blockchain technology
• Artificial intelligence
• Big data analysis
• Quantum computing

Can assist in acquiring valuable insights to making real-time decisions.

Shortcomings

Telehealth is a fast-growing form of technology that might not flourish as expected cause of some barriers like;

• Variation in billing and reimbursement rates
• Limited and inconsistent interstate license of healthcare providers
• Access to information for telehealth practitioners from far-off hospitals.

Conclusion

Telehealth is something that our governments and health facilities should embrace and help advance to create a good environment in health care and help save lives.

Telemedicine or virtual doctor visits involve audio or video calls instead of in-person visits. An ophthalmologist can detect common eye ailments like a stye or surface problems using your phone camera. They can then prescribe drugs or schedule an appointment. As you can see, you can skip unnecessary travel and get your eyes checked from home.

This is usual for glaucoma, cataracts, and pink eye.

How Telehealth for eye care works

Video consultations: Today’s smartphones have HD video cameras. You can video call your doctor wherever you are. The doctor can do a simple eye exam and advise you if you need to visit the hospital or prescribe medicine to treat your issue.

Remote monitoring: Say an eye doctor prescribed your treatment for a problem or say you’ve had eye surgery. The doctor can monitor your health remotely instead of visiting the clinic or hospital.

When to Use Telehealth for Eye Care

• You have red-eye and goopy discharge when you wake up, and you’re unsure what to do. Is medication necessary, or will patience and home remedies suffice?

• Talking about medication changes and the future steps is your primary goal, as you have persistent glaucoma that is monitored by a remote pressure-monitoring device.

• A recent increase in difficulty reading and nighttime vision difficulties have prompted you to suspect a cataract. So, what are your options?

Benefits of using Telehealth for eye care:

• As long as the weather and traffic don’t change, you’re free to relax in the comfort of your own home.

• A trip to the doctor’s office can be time-consuming and dangerous, so it’s best to avoid it if you can.

• Your practitioner gets to examine you in the comfort of your own home, where you’re more at ease. When it comes to diagnosing and treating glaucoma, for example, this could provide a more precise image of intraocular pressure.

Conclusion

Telehealth is a tremendous help in reducing the need to visit eye care providers in person at this time. In many respects, it provides a glimpse into the unprecedented future. It’s not out of the question that these visits will continue to be routine even after COVID-19 has ended.

In response to COVID-19, which changed how Americans think about receiving preventative care, doctors have ramped up telehealth services to meet the growing demand for such services. Telemedicine allows patients access to expert care quickly and conveniently, enhancing health outcomes. Since 2020, telehealth platforms have accounted for approximately 13% to 17% of all consultations.

Why Telemedicine?

The use of telemedicine is becoming easier for those with little or no computer experience. You can schedule virtual appointments with doctors, therapists, and practitioners via mobile platforms and websites. These are the most common diagnoses given via telehealth platforms.

1. Asthma: Rural areas may have a long distance between an allergist and an immunologist, meaning asthma patients sometimes have to travel hours to get to one. Travel gets eliminated with telemedicine and is also a way to reach a wider audience.
2. Diabetes: Offering diabetes patients access to and using diabetes care services via telehealth will help improve their health.
3. GERD: You can ask your doctor about your symptoms using Ourdoctor’s video consultation to determine if you have acid reflux or GERD. After discussing your symptoms with a doctor, they will direct you toward the best treatment option.
4. Hypertension: Telemedicine applications like BPT enable patients to monitor their blood pressure and other health-related data electronically via their homes or communities.
5. Hyperlipidemia: Through telehealth, a physician may be able to provide patients with high cholesterol with advice about lowering cholesterol through diet, exercise, weight loss, and reviewing prescription medications, herbal remedies, and supplements

Summary

Telehealth has become increasingly common in the last few years, and experts predict that this trend will continue because it’s effective in diagnosing, treating, and managing several diseases.

Telemedicine usage rose by 1.015% during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Trilliant Health report, 25.6% of the American population adopted the trend. Women, especially young females from 25 to 40 years, made up to 60% of the Telehealth users during the pandemic.

Men and older women also used telehealth services. However, this group preferred in-person visits, and their number has grown thin following the loosening restriction rules and ability to access physical doctor visits.

The case is different for young females (and has always been). A report posted on the JAMA Network Open, for instance, indicates that women within the ages of 18 to 44 preferred telehealth compared to males and patients within other age groups.

How Patients Used Telehealth Services during the Pandemic

According to the Trilliant Health report, in-person doctor visits subsided from 98.4% pre-pandemic to 70.9% during the COVID-19 peak. Of all the 25.6% percent of Americans who used telemedicine over this period, 46% used telehealth once, 14% attended seven or more virtual appointments, and 80% didn’t go beyond four visits.

Women were the biggest group in every category (single, low, average, high, and super telehealth users). Every patient had a reason for their virtual consultations, but most women sought help with stress and anxiety-related conditions.

Telehealth Beyond the Pandemic

Regulators are debating whether telemedicine should continue post-COVID-19 and at what rate. But, women have tasted and are now reluctant to let go of the convenience that comes with telemedicine.

For instance, women typically have many responsibilities, making it hard to concentrate on their mental health.

Similarly, reports indicate a higher risk of poor health, chronic illnesses, anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders in female caregivers than in other groups. One of the reasons resulting from this, according to most caregivers, is the unavailability of time to dedicate to self-care. With telemedicine it gives more time to focus on ones self. To learn more and how you can get signed up for your first telehealth visit, go to Ourdoctor.com