Telemedicine and homecare: Present and Future
Edwards, Evan; Jäske, Joonas (2020)
Lataukset:
Edwards, Evan
Jäske, Joonas
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020112424178
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020112424178
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis is to describe the current status and the future of telemedicine. The aim of this study is to collect information on how telemedicine is utilized currently in health care, the advantages and disadvantages of it and the future aspects of telemedicine.
The study was conducted as literature review. The data for this study was collected from Cinahl and Medic databases in order to gather information from foreign and domestic sources. The systematic data collection was done during fall 2019 and winter 2020. Twenty articles were selected which passed the selection criteria. These articles were analysed using content analysis. Key points of the articles were gathered and simplified and finally divided into groups according to the subject.
Usefulness of telemedicine varies based on the type of illness the patient has. Telemedicine seems to have great benefits for patients living at home, suffering from skin conditions, those with chronic illnesses, and those with difficulties accessing care. Advantages of telemedicine include communication advantages; enhancement of informal caretakers’ and self-care abilities; faster and more accurate data collection, analysis, and response; and an improved ability to modify patient behavior. Studies suggest that telemedicine also effectively reduces hospitalizations thus lowering costs. Concerns and challenges include the loss of physical interpersonal contact and connection, privacy and data protection concerns, cost and accessibility, difficulty of use, low rates of utilization, reduction in quality of care due to time restraints imposed by use of the technology, difficulties in integrating with varying systems, possible detrimental effects on professional ability, difficulty in defining and assigning responsibility and the potential to adversely affect rural physician availability. For telemedicine to be a good alternative to traditional care, it is important that these concerns and challenges be addressed and minimized in future.
The study was conducted as literature review. The data for this study was collected from Cinahl and Medic databases in order to gather information from foreign and domestic sources. The systematic data collection was done during fall 2019 and winter 2020. Twenty articles were selected which passed the selection criteria. These articles were analysed using content analysis. Key points of the articles were gathered and simplified and finally divided into groups according to the subject.
Usefulness of telemedicine varies based on the type of illness the patient has. Telemedicine seems to have great benefits for patients living at home, suffering from skin conditions, those with chronic illnesses, and those with difficulties accessing care. Advantages of telemedicine include communication advantages; enhancement of informal caretakers’ and self-care abilities; faster and more accurate data collection, analysis, and response; and an improved ability to modify patient behavior. Studies suggest that telemedicine also effectively reduces hospitalizations thus lowering costs. Concerns and challenges include the loss of physical interpersonal contact and connection, privacy and data protection concerns, cost and accessibility, difficulty of use, low rates of utilization, reduction in quality of care due to time restraints imposed by use of the technology, difficulties in integrating with varying systems, possible detrimental effects on professional ability, difficulty in defining and assigning responsibility and the potential to adversely affect rural physician availability. For telemedicine to be a good alternative to traditional care, it is important that these concerns and challenges be addressed and minimized in future.