Advantages of Telehealth
Objective #3
1. Telehealth is very cost effecive. If hospital admissions and hospital days are reduced than less staff are required, which is particularly important in todays situation especially in light of the nationwide nursing shortage. (click this link to view about the nursing shortage) 2. Telehealth improves access to care. With the birth of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Providers, nurses and the patients have better access to the health records.
3. Providing alternative methods of communication with rural remote medical staff for conferences in remote area clinics. Remember the first video about the veterans. Having electronic records allows providers in remote areas access to records of patients far away. It removes barriers of time and distance to help facilitate patient-provider communications (Peck 2005).
3. Telehealth also helps to improve the time the nurse spends at the bedside with the patient and decrease the time spent on charting. To watch this video click the arrow.
4. Less medication errors with programs like the VA's Bar Code Medication Access (BCMA) is used by a pharmacy, which enhances patient safety issues. Patient safety issues is always a huge concern in facilities. The BCMA helps to eliminate most concerns.
5. Disease management, medical software, surveys and telemedicine are some of the methods for healthcare management via the telehealth system. These methods are able to be delivered to providers via PDAs, labtops, telephones, Web, video and allows them to provide better care at point of service whether it might be at a hospital, clinic or a patient's home (Peck, 2005).
