Medicine has always been one of the main driving forces for technological progress. Humanity is constantly striving to invent new ways of helping people to cure and prevent illnesses.
Telemedicine is one of the most recent additions to the arsenal, and the healthcare software development industry gives it a lot of attention. Remote caring for patients (which is one of the main factors that determine telemedicine effectiveness) has its advantages and disadvantages, and in this article, we’re going to review those in detail.
But first, let’s get deeper into the concept of telemedicine itself to better understand it.
What is telemedicine?
The concept of telemedicine itself is not particularly new — we can trace its origins back to the fifties. However, only during the recent decades has technological progress advanced enough to make that concept viable for wide scale practical use by all kinds of healthcare institutions. Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic has done just what you’d expect from an outbreak of an airborne virus that thrives on close contact between people — the importance of telemedicine has skyrocketed.
McKinsey&Company has conducted a study that has shown a drastic increase in the use of telemedicine by consumers — from 11% in 2019 to 46% in 2020. Besides, more than three-quarters of consumers have expressed an interest in using telemedicine in the future.
The term “telemedicine” is often confused with “telehealth”, though these two things are not the same. Telemedicine is more of a general word for medical care provided via telecom technologies at a distance, and the term “telehealth” concerns the means — electronic technologies used in the process. Therefore, the two terms are closely related, and the pros and cons of telehealth are similar to the pros and cons of telemedicine.
All telemedicine services can be roughly divided into synchronous and asynchronous. The first category includes real-time communication — a consultation, for example. Such communications are mostly conducted between a doctor and a patient, however, they can also include two medical professionals discussing the best ways to provide care. Besides consultations, synchronous telemedicine services also include remote programming, used in neural therapy, etc.
Asynchronous telemedicine is more about gathering medical information and then transmitting it for further assessment, which is done by medical professionals. Such information can include medical images or voice files. Internet portals that provide communication between medical specialists and patients also fall under this category via chatbots, questionnaires, or video conferences stored for later viewing.
Telemedicine can be used to treat a great number of conditions, including infections, sports injuries, asthma, rashes, etc. It can be employed by various specialists, in a discussion about lab research results between an endocrinologist and a patient, for post-surgical checks to ensure recovery, and so on.
How are telemedicine services delivered?
Modern worldwide Internet access has changed the way of telemedicine delivery significantly. Some kinds of telemedicine services require only a decent Internet connection so that the patient could conduct a video call to his doctor. Most of the time, however, the provision of telemedicine services requires HIPAA-compliant devices.
The following connection types are the most widely used in telemedicine:
- Point-to-point connections: a standard connection type between small clinics and large medical facilities operating as outsourcing centers. A high-speed internet connection is required for this purpose.
- Monitoring center links: this type of telemedicine connection is used to establish remote patient monitoring. This way the information can be transmitted from the patient’s place of living to the medical institution.
- Networked connections: uses high-speed internet to create networks between remote healthcare facilities and medical centers.
Now that we got the basics out of the way, let’s get down to our main topic: what are the pros and cons of modern telemedicine?
Pros of Telemedicine
The advantages of telemedicine are numerous in comparison to traditional healthcare. Besides, it is an actively developing sphere of technology, therefore we might expect the list of pros to grow with the passing years.
Healthcare accessibility
Ideally, healthcare should be accessible to everyone. In practice, however, shortages of healthcare services are seen too often, especially when it comes to rural or isolated areas of our planet. Sometimes, doctors simply cannot get to patients fast enough to provide their professional services. Telemedicine creates a possibility to provide healthcare remotely, without the need to wait for several days until the doctor arrives, greatly increasing the overall healthcare accessibility. It is the main telemedicine benefit and the reason it was created, actually.
Increased patient safety
With telemedicine, there is no need to create special conditions for patient transportation from place to place, since the medical examination and diagnosis can be done remotely. This is one of the biggest pros of telehealth for the elderly or people with chronic diseases.
Besides, telemedicine eliminates the need to gather groups of patients in waiting rooms. It removes both the risk of possible contagion and the stress of prolonged waiting. Vitals Index reports that almost one-third of surveyed patients had an experience of walking out of an appointment due to waiting stress.
Enhanced communication between professionals
While in the past doctors shared their knowledge and interesting medical cases during personal meetings or conferences, telemedicine now provides a fast and organized way to do that all across the world. Besides, relatives of the patient located far from them can now take part in the caregiving by organizing group calls with medical professionals.
Increased patient engagement
For most patients the luxury of constant connection with their doctor is inaccessible; telemedicine provides them with possibilities for more frequent sessions, therefore creating a stronger bond between the doctor and the patient. This makes their relationships closer, and the process of caregiving easier.
Decrease of expenses
Healthcare is often not cheap. As stated in research by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, US citizens spent $3.8 trillion on healthcare in 2019. A large portion of those expenditures could be avoided with telemedicine, which eliminates personal visits and related expenses.
Telehealth disadvantages are also worth mentioning in order to obtain the full picture.
Cons of telemedicine
The industry of telemedicine is still relatively young and actively developing. A lot of gray areas are constantly addressed by industry players and might change in the foreseeable future. Here are some major limitations of telemedicine:
Digital inequality
The main goal of telemedicine is to reach the maximum number of people all around the world. However, people live in vastly different conditions and sometimes simply have no access to broadband internet connection or financial resources to purchase the necessary equipment to participate in telemedicine services. This is more of a global issue that must be addressed on a larger scale than just the healthcare industry.
Training is necessary
Of course, telemedicine devices and platforms require special training to operate. The amount of training required will vary depending on the specific process and equipment purpose. Equipment used for highly specialized needs between medical professionals will require much more training than a video chat for doctor-patient communication.
Language barriers
The less comfortable a person feels speaking English, the less likely they will be to participate in telemedicine processes. This con overlaps with the previous one, combining the language hardships with training necessity and resulting in more people rejecting telemedicine services.
Unclear legislation
Technological progress is advancing rapidly, and policymakers sometimes fail to keep up with it when it comes to telemedicine. Every practice and every process telemedicine involves must be strictly regulated for it to stay safe for patients and doctors. International law adds to complexity: different governments might have completely different legislations when it comes to healthcare, further complicating the international telemedicine possibilities.
Final thoughts on the matter
Telemedicine is a booming industry, and it is expected to widen even more in the foreseeable future. Gray areas are actively worked and new solutions to telemedicine issues are found each day. Getting into it right now with a good idea might be a great way to ensure your place among the industry leaders in several years.
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