Telehealth: Information from Answers.com

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Telemedicine. (Discuss)

It has been suggested that eHealth be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. Telehealth delivery could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as sophisticated as using videoconferencing between providers at facilities in two countries, or even as complex as robotic technology.

Telehealth is an expansion of telemedicine, and unlike telemedicine (which more narrowly focuses on the curative aspect) it encompasses preventive, promotive and curative aspects. Originally used to describe administrative or educational functions related to telemedicine, today telehealth stresses a myriad of technology solutions. For example, physicians use email to communicate with patients, order drug prescriptions and provide other health services.

1 Clinical uses of telehealth technologies
2 Nonclinical uses of telehealth technologies
3 Telehealth modes
4 Benefits of telehealth
5 References
6 External links
7 Further reading
8 See also

Clinical uses of telehealth technologies

Transmission of medical images for diagnosis (often referred to as store and forward telehealth)
Groups or individuals exchanging health services or education live via videoconference (real-time telehealth)
Transmission of medical data for diagnosis or disease management (sometimes referred to as remote monitoring)
Advice on prevention of diseases and promotion of good health by patient monitoring and followup.
Health advice by telephone in emergent cases (referred to as teletriage)

Nonclinical uses of telehealth technologies

Distance education including continuing medical education, grand rounds, and patient education
administrative uses including meetings among telehealth networks, supervision, and presentations
research on telehealth
online information and health data management
healthcare system integration
asset identification, listing, and patient to asset matching, and movement
overall healthcare system management
patient movement and remote admission

Telehealth modes

Store-and-forward telehealth

In store-and-forward telehealth, digital images, video, audio and clinical data are captured and "stored" on the client computer; then at a convenient time transmitted securely ("forwarded") to a clinic at another location where they are studied by relevant specialists. The opinion of the specialist is then transmitted back. Based on the requirements of the participating healthcare entities, this roundtrip could take between 2 to 48 hours. In many store-and-forward specialties, such as teleradiology, an immediate response is not critical. Dermatology, radiology and pathology are common specialties that are conducive to store-and-forward technologies.

Real-time telehealth

In real-time telehealth, a telecommunications link allows instantaneous interaction. Videoconferencing equipment is one of the most common forms of synchronous telemedicine. Peripheral devices can also be attached to computers or the video-conferencing equipment which can aid in an interactive examination. With the availability of better and cheaper communication channels, direct two-way audio and video streaming between centers through computers is leading to lower costs.

Examples of real-time clinical telehealth include:

Telemental Health -- the use of videoconferencing technology to connect a psychiatrist with a mental health client
Telerehabilitation
Telecardiology
Teleneurology
Telenursing
Teleradiology
Teledentistry

In an effort to enhance the real-time telehealth experience, Google Health, a personal health information centralization service, recently began establishing relationships with telehealth providers that will allow their users to sync the data shared during telehealth consultations with their online health records. To date, partnerships have been formed with the following companies: MDLiveCare and Hello Health.^[1]

Remote patient monitoring

In remote monitoring, sensors are used to capture and transmit biometric data. For example, a tele-EEG device monitors the electrical activity of a patients brain and then transmits that data to a specialist. This could be done in either real time or the data could be stored and then forwarded.

Examples of remote monitoring include:

Home-based nocturnal dialysis ^[2]
Cardiac and multi-parameter monitoring of remote ICUs
Home telehealth
Disease management

Benefits of telehealth

Telehealth benefits patients in countries where traditional delivery of health services are affected by distance and lack of local specialist clinicians to deliver services. The rate of adoption of telehealth services in any jurisdiction is frequently influenced by factors such as the adequacy and cost of existing conventional health services in meeting patient needs; the policies of governments and/or insurers with respect to coverage and payment for telehealth services; and medical licensing requirements that may inhibit or deter the provision of telehealth second opinions or primary consultations by physicians.

There may also be some significant carbon reductions for the NHS to be gained from developing Telehealth and therefore reducing the need to travel (often, in the case of patients, by car) as well as encouraging healthy, sustainable behaviour through monitoring and improved communications and reducing the requirements to expand sites to meet increases in Healthcare demands.

References

^ "Fall update on Google Health". http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/fall-update-on-google-health.html. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
^ Andreas Pierratos, MD. Nocturnal hemodialysis: dialysis for the new millennium Canadian Medical Association Journal, November 2, 1999; 161 (9), 2 November 1966.

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