Explore the difference between telemedicine and telehealth and address when it is appropriate to use each of these by addressing the benefits and limitations of each.

Difference Between Telehealth and Telemedicine

The world has experienced sudden changes in the healthcare sector’s technical, social, cultural, political, and economic environments. Colluci et al. (2017) state that there is a need for healthcare providers to re-examine and re-invent new approaches for the delivery of healthcare. The need for improved quality of health, better access to healthcare services, timeliness in delivery of care, shortage of healthcare workers, and saving costs in healthcare delivery has proven the need for home-telehealth and telemedicine services worldwide. Telemedicine and telehealth are significant initiatives towards health provision, each with its benefits, limitations, and best mode of application.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine is using electronic telecommunication and information technology to access health care needed from a distance. According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2020), telemedicine can be used in disease outbreaks (pandemics) and as a family protection measure from contracting diseases through frequent hospital visits. The benefits of telemedicine include reducing waiting time to access services, saving time and transportation costs, and allowing doctors to remotely monitor their patients by talking to them via phone or live video chats; patients can exchange messages with their doctors through email or messaging. The limitations of telemedicine include a breakdown in the relationship between the healthcare worker and the patient, a study in the relationship between healthcare workers, the quality of healthcare may be compromised, and the rise of bureaucratic and organizational difficulties.

Telehealth

Telehealth refers to facilitating and delivering healthcare services like medical care and health education remotely through digital technology. Examples of telehealth include digital health apps, video conferencing (live), and ‘remote patient monitoring’ (RPM). The benefits include a decrease in the burden felt by patients on time spent visiting hospitals, a wider margin of the population can access healthcare, especially those in rural areas who may not be able to access a doctor and patients with mobility challenges, flexibility in the scheduling and efficiency and timely evaluation of patients especially in acute conditions (Beiber & Weiner, 2018). The limitations are the inability to thoroughly examine patients, the high costs of establishing telehealth applications, and the fact that patients may feel abandoned and isolated.

Conclusion

Telehealth and telemedicine services are inevitable. The world currently is shut down totally by COVID-19. With the changing trend, there is an increased risk of contracting diseases in hospitals than at home. The doctor is at stake! The patient is at stake! How will the world navigate through this? M-health is an excellent solution to these arising risks.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (September 15, 2020). What is telemedicine in a non-US setting? Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/global-covid-19/telemedicine.html

Coluci et al. (2017). A “matter of communication “: A new classification to compare and evaluate telehealth and telemedicine interventions and understand their effectiveness as a communication process. Health Informatics Journal, 25(2): 446-460 Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1460458217747109