Telemedicine

Feb 28, 2023 by EMPWellness Admin

 

With the introduction of digital transformations and the Internet era to the world of medicine and hospital structure, the methods of serving patients, medical examinations, health preventions, special care, post-discharge care, and medical follow-up have entered advanced models such as telehealth and medicine from Telemedicine has been developed to help improve quality, reduce medical costs, and provide easy access to medical services. Advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, extraction and analysis of information in mass form (Big Data), information exchange with the help of Internet services (IOT) and information storage in virtual space (Computing Cloud), cause structural, organizational, technological, cultural changes and It has become a behavior in health care organizations including hospitals. Digital developments have improved patients’ medical-clinical affairs, patients’ medical-financial affairs and their direct and active participation in decisions related to their health. In this article, from the new medical articles on the Empwellnesssite, we examine what the answers to telehealth questions are and what is the difference between telehealth and telemedicine.

What is telehealth and how is it different from telemedicine?

The concepts of telemedicine and telehealth are the translations of the two terms Telemedicine and Telehealth, respectively, and are derived from the Greek word “Tele” meaning distance, “Medicine” meaning medicine, and “Health” meaning health.

The practical meaning of these terms is the exchange of medical information through electronic communication and the Internet. In the beginning, the philosophy of creating telemedicine was to bring medical services to remote and inaccessible areas where people had limited access to doctors or it was used in special organizations or special conditions.

For example, the American Astronautically Organization (NASA) has been using telemedicine to monitor the vital signs of astronauts in space travel.

In telehealth, in addition to medical services, educational and preventive services are also added, and doctors and nurses around the world can exchange opinions and share medical information, and patients can also receive remote education for their health.

Information exchange in telemedicine

Information exchanged in telemedicine includes:

Patients’ vital signs such as blood pressure and blood sugar, heart rate and breathing per minute, oxygen saturation in the blood;

All kinds of radiology images, CT scan and MRI;

Various images and studies related to the function of the heart and lungs;

Blood tests;

Pathology results of tissue samples;

A lot of other information…

This information is exchanged in the form of sending messages and audio and video or live between patient and doctor, doctor with doctor or between hospitals and medical groups and in two ways: Real Time (RT) and S& Store and Forward (F).

In the Real Time method, communication is done directly, continuously and online, and in the S&F method, images and medical information are stored in the database and then sent.

Types of telemedicine

Below are the types of telemedicine and their different ways:

Online video and video communication in the form of video conference to provide advice in the fields of: Primary Care Services, Tele-Psychiatry, Tele-Psychology, Tele-Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation. (Tele-Rehabilitation) and mental health counseling are done.

Exchange of patients’ medical information such as: vital signs between home, doctor, medical staff, clinic and hospital, which can be done in both Real Time and S&F methods.

More advanced telemedicine communications are Tele Cardiology, Tele Radiology, Tele Monitoring, Tele ICU, Tele-Pathology, Tele-Trauma, Tele-Dermatology and Telesurvey. For example, in telesurvey, which is performed by robotic surgeons and the surgical team, the patient and the robotic team are present in another city or country, and the surgeon and the medical team remotely operate on the patient using navigators. It is necessary to explain that the first case of remote surgery was performed in 2001 between France and the United States for gallbladder surgery of a 68-year-old man.

Advantages of using telemedicine and telehealth

By using telemedicine technologies, many patients will be able to communicate with their doctor or other doctors online at anytime and anywhere in the world and benefit from their expert advice.

On the other hand, telehealth helps to increase the quality of medical services, increase the level of access of patients to medical services and reduce costs, as well as having a good effect in reducing travel between the doctor’s office and the hospital, reducing repeated visits to emergency centers, effective management of chronic diseases and Accompanying patients with their health issues.

Today, the public health approach to improve people’s awareness of their physical and mental health, using telemedicine technology, has made significant progress and has led to active participation of people in their health. Many hospitals in the world and in the United States are setting up or using telemedicine and telehealth, and many patients have expressed satisfaction and improvement in their health.

In the future, we will provide more information on the applications of telemedicine and health.

If you have a question about telemedicine, ask your question in the comment section so that the doctors of the site will answer your question.