By Bill Smith, Marketing Coordinator at CareMate.
Modern telemedicine approaches allow for remote consultations of doctors and their patients located in the most remote areas. It is a key and pivotal part of today’s healthcare infrastructure and one of the biggest revolutions happening - right now - in the industry. In this article, we’ll dive into what telemedicine is, a bit about its history, and what its goals and objectives are.
What is telemedicine?
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to provide clinical health care and medical consultations with a doctor or other qualified healthcare provider. This term is generally used to describe any form of medical consultation that is provided remotely, using tech. This includes video conferencing, telephone, email, internet, zoom calls, Skype, chat, etc.
Telemedicine can be used by patients to consult with a specialist from the convenience of their home — or also by a specialist who can see many patients simultaneously in different locations. During the 2020 pandemic, this type of healthcare service saw a huge boom. It became commonplace and necessary. Not only did it offer premium healthcare services, in a time when hospitals and clinics had collapsed, but it also helped people maintain social distance protocols.
Today, telemedicine is used in all healthcare professions and departments. It, along with other techs - such as wearable - is revolutionizing the industry. Amongst the fields, Telemedicine can be used:
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provide remote consultations.
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diagnosis, treatment.
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Post-opt care.
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Follow-up care.
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Rehabilitation.
Some common applications include teleradiology (e.g., electronic medical records), telesurgery (e.g., robotic surgery), telenursing (e.g., nurse video conferencing), telepathology (e.g., remote pathology interpretation), and telepsychiatry (e.g., psychiatric consultation through videoconferencing).
History of Telemedicine
The first true - named as such - telemedicine program was developed in the 1960s when a closed-circuit television link was created between the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute and its peer Hospital in Norfolk.
Nevertheless, a little-known fact, telemedicine as such can trace its roots to the 1800s, when a Scottish doctor named James Mackenzie invented the world's first "telegraphic medical report" for a patient. The patient was in London and the doctor was in Glasgow. The telegraph system transmitted information about the patient's condition from Glasgow to London, where it was then transcribed and delivered to the patient's physician.
For a couple of years, after that historic 1960s program broke the glass ceiling of telemedicine, the practice evolved. Joining in many cases remote, outskirt areas, where basic healthcare services were a luxury, with quality care. In the late 1960s - a watershed moment in the history of telemedicine took place - NASA created a satellite-based communication system to help astronauts talk to Earth doctors.
Finally, the technology was used for commercial healthcare for the first time in 1974, when doctors were able to diagnose and treat a patient from over 900 miles away.
Objectives of telemedicine worldwide
The main objective of telemedicine is to provide the same quality of care as in-person treatment. It is a cost-effective way to give healthcare services and reduce the burden on the healthcare systems. Telemedicine also provides access to care for people in remote areas or countries with limited resources.
That’s the main reason telemedicine was first invented. Its goals can be broken down as:
Medical care for everyone
Healthcare is a basic human right. It is shocking to know that just in the United States alone, over 28 million people are without healthcare coverage. Worldwide that number goes through the roof. In most cases, it’s not a monetary problem but a logistics issue. There are still vast sections of the world where medical facilities are a pipe-dream. With the advance in internet services and telecommunications, Telemedicine can help solve a lot of these regions' medical woes. Telemedicine makes qualified medical care more accessible to the entire population.
Constant monitoring
Telemedicine can help track patients once they leave the hospital or clinic. It can also, once linked with wearables devices, or other medical tech, create unique biological profiles of each person — which helps identify red flags before they become an issue. This is a great advantage of telemedicine, since it tracks the main biological parameters of a body and keeps taps on chronic diseases that need continual monitoring.
Reduced Healthcare costs
By reducing the need for actual physical space, telemedicine also reduces the need for staff and other costly healthcare overhead – the practice optimizes the bottom line
Expanding what you can get at home
Telemedicine opens the door, along with another commercial health tech, for what medicine and healthcare can evolve into. Something available 24/7 — everywhere. It expands the range of services that can now be obtained at home.
Post-Op care
One of Telemedicine’s goals is to make it easier for post-op patients to transition back to their homes. Telemedicine can track and supervise a patient’s recovery without the need for the said patient to pass unnecessary time in a hospital bed. Facilities can discharge patients faster knowing they can track their progress and keep an eye on possible complications.
Group Meetings
Synergy — By using telemedicine, doctors and different medical departments can cooperate in unison on a case, regardless of where various specialists reside. With it, the main physician can organize consultations with leading specialists from other clinics in a flash.
Medical training at half the cost
Another important objective of telemedicine is that it helps train today’s doctors without the need of making them travel for a conference, a course, or a training seminar. With telemedicine, professionals can sharpen their skills from the comfort of their homes.
Telemedicine – what tomorrow might bring
Telemedicine is a relatively new field that has been gaining more and more attention in recent years. The development of telemedicine is accelerated by the advances in technology such as the internet, mobile phones, and wireless technologies. These advances have led to increased access to information as well as improved connectivity. Today, some of the biggest, legendary, and impressive companies in the world - Apple, Google, Amazon, and Huawei - are investing greatly in healthcare services and health-related tech. They understand that they are pivotal to humanity’s next step and its progress — and telemedicine is a key to what they want to achieve.
