Improved Care for All
Whether in a city or at a rural location, it can be challenging for patients to connect with the most appropriate medical care, particularly if they require specialty services or have a chronic illness.
Telemedicine and videoconferencing solutions, including voice, high definition video, and immersive telepresence, transfer high resolution images, sounds, live video, and patient records from one location to another, making it much easier to share and view vital health information.
These systems support remote primary care and diagnosis, consultation, and other healthcare specialty services. Ultimately telemedicine enables patients to receive the best care possible regardless of their location.
Doctoring at a Distance
In some cases, today’s telemedicine solutions support better collaboration and consultation than face-to-face medical visits. Patients can see images and listen to sounds from a variety of diagnostic devices, actively participating with clinicians.
Connected medical devices at the point of care may include a camera for external observation, ear-nose-throat camera, digital stethoscope, and a device to capture blood pressure, temperature, pulse rate, and blood oxygen levels.
Stay Healthy at Home
Monitoring patients with chronic diseases in their homes using devices that collect data about blood sugar levels, blood pressure, or other vital signs can reduce health care costs. A blood glucose or blood pressure monitor uploads data to clinical data analytics system.
Remote caregivers review the data, alert the patient when something is amiss, and adjust medications, preventing a trip to the hospital. Home health providers can send nurses when needed and not on a schedule that may miss critical medical events.
Remote medical devices must be easy to use, require large investments to develop and support, and need FDA approval. However, remote patient monitoring has great potential to help patients stay out of the emergency room.