Disadvantages and Advantages of Telehealth Research Paper

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Telenursing: Is it for Me?

Fifty years ago, the kind of technology depicted in science-fiction films may have seemed like an unattainable fantasy. Today, it is a reality. Advancements in technology in every sector of life have made it so that human beings now have more communicative power than ever before: information can be conveyed digitally and electronically faster than the blink of an eye. This technology is now being instituted in the health care industry in the form of telehealth. Telehealth is a form of medicine that utilizes telecommunications technologies and electronic storage to make long-distance clinical care a real and effective practice in today's world (Hebda, 2013). This paper will provide an assessment of one area of telehealth, which is telenursing and include a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages for the patient as well as legal and ethical principles for the nurse using telenursing.

One of the biggest concerns of telenursing is privacy: with a monitor that shows the activities of a patient in a private setting, what information is conveyed to whom? Fortunately HIPAA laws are in place to protect client privacy. Personnel using telenursing technology would be required to sign in to access information using access codes, just like they would with any other form of clinical information. Privacy of the patient is to respected just as it would be were the patient in a hospital receiving care. The advantage of telenursing is that it provides the same level of monitoring and care but allows the patient to be in his or her own private residence (Hebda, 2013). Still, the newness of the technology and concerns about privacy that coincide with electronic information conveyance, especially in today's world where cyber attacks are more or less a given, could be perceived as a disadvantage to the utilization of telenursing.

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Another disadvantage is that the malpractice claims could be instigated if telenursing operatives are not supported by a strong organizational environment (Roing, Holmstrom, 2015). Additionally, as Roing, Rosenqvist and Holmstrom (2013) indicate, because the "main sources of information" in telenursing are the nurses' "dialogues with the callers, the provision of safe can care can depend on the quality of this dialogue" (p. 969). If the operatives are not skilled in maintaining a successful dialogue with patients, optimal care could be lost -- and this is another perceptible disadvantage.

However, with the right training and organizational staff to support it, telenursing's advantages could far outweigh these perceived disadvantages. For one thing, a higher degree of patient satisfaction has been shown to be one of impacts of telenursing, because the patient can be more comfortable in surroundings that are less intrusive (Odeh, 2014). Patients are more likely, also, to be communicative with telenursing operatives as they see this as a direct link to care and they discern their own pro-active part in the provision of that care. In terms of interoperability, telenursing is also another advantage to the health care industry, because it promotes greater team work and a positive organizational culture that integrates communication with care in a manner that is conducive to 21st century technological levels of interaction.

Telenursing can also be helpful as a follow-up application as Ramelet et al. (2014) indicate. Their study on how children with rheumatic diseases were supported via telenursing follow-up calls showed that patient satisfaction was high thanks to the efforts made by such specialist nurses in connecting with patients after discharge and providing adequate information and support regarding consultations, treatment….....

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