Advancing Health Education With Telemedicine

While telemedicine was not a new concept before the COVID-19 pandemic, it has certainly helped to propel telehealth as a popular solution and tool for patients to continue to use well after the impacts of COVID-19 have been felt. However, telehealth also provided solutions for health institutions faced with the challenge of preparing the next generation of medical professionals remotely. Telemedicine allowed medical educators to accompany students in their first encounters with patients and to simulate practical scenarios. Through the pandemic, educators have striven to be more creative and propose solutions to overcome adversities such as language barriers, access to technological infrastructure, and lack of legal framework. Advancing Health Education With Telemedicine discusses and presents alternatives on taking advantage of available technologies and infrastructure of telemedicine and e-health to advance health professionals’ education. This need emerged amid the pandemic to provide patients and their families with support and guidance, but it also brought opportunities to students to continue their training and be involved in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Covering topics such as disease-awareness campaigns, medical education, and online clinical simulation, this book serves as a dynamic resource for medical students, medical professionals, medical directors, educational software developers, researchers, communications experts, professors, and academicians.

The Internet serves as an essential tool in promoting health awareness through the circulation of important research among the medical professional community. While digital tools and technologies have greatly improved healthcare, challenges are still prevalent among diverse populations worldwide. The Handbook of Research on Advancing Health Education through Technology presents a comprehensive discussion of health knowledge equity and the importance of the digital age in providing life-saving data for diagnosis and treatment of diverse populations with limited resources. Featuring timely, research-based chapters across a broad spectrum of topic areas including, but not limited to, online health information resources, data management and analysis, and knowledge accessibility, this publication is an essential reference source for researchers, academicians, medical professionals, and upper level students interested in the advancement and dissemination of medical knowledge.

In 1996, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its report Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. In that report, the IOM Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine found telemedicine is similar in most respects to other technologies for which better evidence of effectiveness is also being demanded. Telemedicine, however, has some special characteristics-shared with information technologies generally-that warrant particular notice from evaluators and decision makers. Since that time, attention to telehealth has continued to grow in both the public and private sectors. Peer-reviewed journals and professional societies are devoted to telehealth, the federal government provides grant funding to promote the use of telehealth, and the private technology industry continues to develop new applications for telehealth. However, barriers remain to the use of telehealth modalities, including issues related to reimbursement, licensure, workforce, and costs. Also, some areas of telehealth have developed a stronger evidence base than others. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) sponsored the IOM in holding a workshop in Washington, DC, on August 8-9 2012, to examine how the use of telehealth technology can fit into the U.S. health care system. HRSA asked the IOM to focus on the potential for telehealth to serve geographically isolated individuals and extend the reach of scarce resources while also emphasizing the quality and value in the delivery of health care services. This workshop summary discusses the evolution of telehealth since 1996, including the increasing role of the private sector, policies that have promoted or delayed the use of telehealth, and consumer acceptance of telehealth. The Role of Telehealth in an Evolving Health Care Environment: Workshop Summary discusses the current evidence base for telehealth, including available data and gaps in data; discuss how technological developments, including mobile telehealth, electronic intensive care units, remote monitoring, social networking, and wearable devices, in conjunction with the push for electronic health records, is changing the delivery of health care in rural and urban environments. This report also summarizes actions that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can undertake to further the use of telehealth to improve health care outcomes while controlling costs in the current health care environment.

Rapid progress in health research has led to generation of new knowledge and innovative practices in management of illness. This has resulted in a significant challenge for health professionals: if today we discovered a new therapy through research, when will this discovery be regularly prescribed or utilized to treat all patients suffering from this condition? Knowledge translation is the non-linear and often complicated process of translating knowledge into routine health practices. Technology enabled knowledge translation (TEKT) is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to accelerate knowledge translation. With the ubiquity of the internet, the proliferation of different approaches in communication and social networking, and the continuously improving technologies from netbooks to smartphones, there are rich opportunities for TEKT in health education, service delivery, and research.

Patients and medical professionals alike are slowly growing into the digital advances that are revolutionizing the ways that medical records are maintained in addition to the delivery of healthcare services. As technology continues to advance, so do the applications of technological innovation within the healthcare sector. The Encyclopedia of E-Health and Telemedicine is an authoritative reference source featuring emerging technological developments and solutions within the field of medicine. Emphasizing critical research-based articles on digital trends, including big data, mobile applications, electronic records management, and data privacy, and how these trends are being applied within the healthcare sector, this encyclopedia is a critical addition to academic and medical libraries and meets the research needs of healthcare professionals, researchers, and medical students.

Telemedicine, which involves electronic communications and software, provides the same clinical services to patients without the requirement of an in-person visit. Essentially, this is considered remote healthcare. Though telemedicine is not a new practice, it has become an increasingly popular form of healthcare delivery due to current events, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only are visits being moved onto virtual platforms, but additional materials and correspondence can remain in the digital sphere. Virtual lab results, digital imaging, medical diagnosis, and video consultations are just a few examples that encompass how telemedicine can be used for increased accessibility in healthcare delivery. With telemedicine being used in both the diagnosis and treatment of patients, technology in healthcare can be implemented at almost any phase of the patient experience. As healthcare delivery follows the digital shift, it is important to understand the technologies, benefits and challenges, and overall impacts of the remote healthcare experience. The Research Anthology on Telemedicine Efficacy, Adoption, and Impact on Healthcare Delivery presents the latest research on best practices for adopting telehealth into medical practices and its efficacy and solutions for the improvement of telemedicine, as well as addresses emerging challenges and opportunities, including issues such as securing patient data and providing healthcare accessibility to rural populations. Covering important themes that include doctor-patient relationships, tele-wound monitoring, and telemedicine regulations, this book is essential for healthcare professionals, doctors, medical students, academic and medical libraries, medical technologists, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the emerging technological developments and solutions within the field of telemedicine.

A new addition to the successful telehealth series,Telehealth in the Developing Worldaims to balance the relative lack of published information on successful telehealth solutions in the developing world.

This unique book comprehensively reviews how information technology is changing cardiovascular medical practice. Chapters include a wide range of topics from specific technologies and virtual care education to large system implementation. Extensive illustrative material and specific case studies are included throughout to reinforce key concepts and enable the reader to develop an understanding of how information technology is impacting medical practice. Health equity, medicolegal ethics, and regulatory considerations are also covered. Healthcare Information Technology for Cardiovascular Medicine: Telemedicine & Digital Health provides a foundation for better understanding how these technologies impact cardiovascular care delivery. Its comprehensive analysis enables healthcare providers and other stakeholders to enhance clinical practice through digital health implementation.