At Glenmed, we have witnessed Telehealth being conducted of medical and healthcare services through telecommunications and the internet – and it is revolutionising the healthcare industry.
Understanding Telehealth & What it Means for Your Practice
Telehealth encompasses an array of technologies to deliver virtual medical, health, and education services; keep reading the blog to find out more.
How is Telehealth Delivered?
Telehealth encompasses several different methods and technologies including the following:
Telehealth Method #1: Live Video Conferencing
This can facilitate consultations with out-of-town specialists or pre-op prep between the care team and the patient.
Telehealth Method #2: Store-and-forward
With this methodology, a patient can send information and or visuals of their condition or symptom to a doctor, who can then respond with comments and/or diagnosis at a later time.
Telehealth Method #3: Remote Patient Monitoring
With this delivery, a care team can monitor a patient’s health remotely. This could include devices that measure and transmit data, wearable devices that record and transmit data, web-based or mobile apps for uploading data to a care team, or home-based remote monitoring devices to detect changes in routine activities.
Now Read COVID-19 & the IoT in South Africa & Worldwide
All of these systems give long-distance access to healthcare, which is a welcome innovation that has never really been feasible until now. There has always been a need for this kind of technology, especially to cater to patients to live far away from their care teams, or to free up space in hospitals and medical practices. This need became all the more pronounced this year with the advent of COVID-19. As self-isolation and concerns about healthcare capacity became central in the midst of the pandemic, telehealth has offered a partial solution to the problem. Once the pandemic becomes a thing of the past, telehealth practices are likely to become the norm.
Tools for the implementation of telehealth are being developed and released to market all the time – and they’re easy to use. The key is to start simple. Use these tools to carry out basic services such as gathering patient histories and providing consultations. You can then increase the complexity of your telehealth facilities as your organisation becomes more comfortable with the new technology and practices.
Glenmed – Proud Providers of Leading Edge Medical Technology
Glenmed is a licensed distributor of Philips and several other leading international medical tech brands in South Africa. Contact us for more information.