Telemedicine encapsulates the use of the different types of online communications by medical institutions and physicians. By employing technology, telemedicine makes it possible for healthcare providers to remotely care for patients either due to distance, convenience, or home location. It equips caregivers with the ability to transfer and collect essential medical data including photos, videos, and audio. A live Internet connection backs this transfer of information.
In the past couple of years, telemedicine has been a significant proponent in the field of cardiology, psychiatry, radiology, and oncology. Tele-surgery and patient indication are also possible thanks to video conferencing.
The History of Telemedicine
Even though the influence of the Internet is a relatively new phenomenon in the field of medicine, it has a unique history. For some, the advent of telemedicine goes all the way back to 1906, when Willem Einthoven first utilizes the electrocardiogram transmission over telephone lines. In the current day, telemedicine has become more immersive, with a few hospitals experimenting with telemedicine to reach patients who happen to live in remote locations. The potential for telemedicine has amplified as a tool to help alleviate healthcare shortages and to share medical consuls and healthcare records almost instantaneously.
Benefits of Telemedicine
Remote diagnosing. The majority of patients prefer easy access to services over in-person interactions. Telemedicine galvanizes practicality and convenience, allowing medical institutions to offer in-demand care without the wasted time and cost of in-person visitations.
Referrals and specialists. For the patient, they spend less time traveling to medical specialists. For doctors, some are charging less for the convenience of telemedicine consultation versus in-person evaluations.
Remote monitoring. Telemedicine allows physicians to be in tuned with vital signs, enabling them to notice if there is a change in health.
Remote health education. Telemedicine can also be used to convey messages. Since it is closely related to the videos and images – media that can express a lot of information in a compressed format – then it is expected to use telemedicine as a platform to deliver these messages.