Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Specialists, Telehealth And Primary Care Providers

By Karen Hill


In most cases, when people talk about health and well being, it is in relation to clinic visits, hospitalization or the cost of insurance. While this is the case, there is a new service taking the health care world by storm, that of Telehealth. In the case of this service, individuals, primary care providers, specialists and administrators can access health services and medical records via remote access through a number of telecommunication and digital technologies.

Individuals now have the ability to remain in constant contact with primary care providers as necessary. Whereas, nurses can provide advice on a number of health related matters and interventions. In addition, hospitals and rehabilitation centers can now admit individuals from remote locations around the world.

Other ways in which this service can be beneficial is in performing remote robotic surgeries, providing physical therapy via digital monitoring instruments and discussing cases via videoconferencing. Providers can also use this service as a means of on the spot consultations with higher level specialists by sharing MRIs, CT scans and X-rays.

A number of medical advances have been made in the last few decades with many more coming in the future. For, as the population grows and people age, the needs for medical care will only continue to increase over time. In many cases, primary health care providers are being asked to go above and beyond normal duties, at least according to various job descriptions.

While a shortage already exists when it comes to primary care providers in the United States, there are also shortages in a number of specialties. One of the most hard hit when it comes to a shortage of providers is that of speech pathologists and therapists. Whereas, in rural areas, clinics are having a hard time staffing administrators, physicians, physician assistants and nurses due to a lack of mobility in the elderly and limited transportation options for employees and individuals in need of care.

While telemedicine may be similar in scope, the Health Resources And Services Administration distinguishes the difference. For, according to the administration, telemedicine only describes remote clinical services such as monitoring and diagnosis while services provided by telecommunication devices include curative, promotional and preventive care. In most cases, this includes non-clinical applications such as provider education and administrative tasks which make services obtained through telecommunication services more preferable in the long run.

The development and history of both tele-applications is deeply rooted in the ongoing growth of technology as well as society. For, people have long desired to relay messages over long distances. In the beginning, torches, electroscopes, optical telegraphy, telegrams, telegraphs, mail and telephones. Now, these early forms of messaging have been replaced by Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and other social networking websites.

Now in the 21st century, most people use beepers and other digital devices such as blackberries, notepads, laptops and desktop computers for communicating via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking websites. Whereas, there are also those whom still carry on conversations over land lines as well as smart phones which have already outdated car and satellite phones of the 80s and 90s.




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