FIXING the age-old complaints of waiting time for pre-registration and triage, inconvenience and associated costs of re-doing laboratory tests due to misplaced records and hospital acquired infections as a result of an unsanitary environment can be quick wins with the advent of telemedicine and telehealth.

These are usually the explanations from people, more men than women, when asked about their reluctance to visit a hospital. This may have contributed to late diagnoses and progression of disease conditions which were once manageable, if caught earlier. However, with innovative solutions, fixing those gaps in the system can transform the delivery of healthcare and preserve our country’s most precious resources for development — the human resource.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual health platforms were unpopular. According to the American Medical Association, the genesis of telemedicine in the late1950s had attracted less than one percent of users. However, today that consumption has increased significantly where over fifty percent of medical doctors in developed countries engaged patients. From the survey conducted with those who participated, 75 percent were satisfied with this medium.

This service incorporates the use of technology with medicine putting the patient and the doctor in the same room though physically apart. Phone calls, video chats, text messages and emails are all means in telemedicine, where access to a doctor is made easy and convenient twenty-four/seven, inclusive of weekends and holidays.

There are multiple terms for using such technological delivery for health care. For example, telehealth is defined as providing remote non-clinical services such as securing an appointment and refills at the pharmacy whilst telemedicine refers to remote clinical services to improve the patient overall clinical health status, having assessed the patient’s reaction to the prescribed treatments. Other terms used for such types of service are e-health, mobile health and digital medicine.

Key considerations for such innovative solutions require the technological infrastructure, patient consent, privacy of confidential records and payment agreements for services provided or simply payment terms to have this service option available whether used or not.

This digital medium can be utilized for virtual appointments where the doctor can share your tests results and explain what they mean by video conferencing or do a prescription refill. There are feedback information that must be shared with the healthcare provider, which means that the patient may need to possess the following machines such as glucometer, sphygmomanometer, scale and oximeter. In cases of respiratory conditions, a non-invasive ventilation equipment may be required.

Telemedicine requires audio visual two-way interaction between the patient and the healthcare provider. It can be real-time which requires synchronous telemedicine or delayed, which is asynchronous, where stored patient data is shared with the patient or a specialist in cases of a further referral or a second medical opinion, whether local or overseas.

It works best to diagnose simple and uncomplicated health issues such as headache, sore throat, back pain and digestive troubles. It is most convenient for follow-up assessments on treatment initiated, post-surgical treatment for immobile patients and chronic care requirements for illnesses that may require a clinic setting.

Patient visits and work load at some clinics can be drastically reduced if this service is smartly utilized to address simple recurring events of uncontrolled or mismanaged chronic illnesses. For example, a significant impact has been seen when telemedicine is utilized in diabetes mellitus. For other stigmatized conditions in mental health and substance abuse disorders, this medium allows easy access to screening and counselling, where the ratio of persons requiring this type of service to the number of trained and skilled care providers is very high. Telemedicine is not only used in primary care but beneficial in specialty-care management such as cardiology, endocrinology, hepatology, nephrology, neurology, paediatrics and surgical perioperative cases.

This option benefits those in rural or remote residential areas with geographical challenges to access a doctor. Also for those patients with a permanent disability, the elderly without a caregiver or even in situations where time is a crucial factor, telehealth is an invaluable mechanism. Telemedicine is not only user-friendly and comforting but it decreases direct cost, is effective and efficient in the management of health.

However, it must be noted that telemedicine is not a substitute for in-patient visits especially if emergency medical intervention is required. A physical examination, patient biodata and accurate body weight measurements to calculate medication dosages may be impeded and hence the doctor may not be able to provide the optimum care. The absence of the emotional connection due to the physical factor or the human touch may also impact negatively on healing. Additionally, those who may benefit the most are the elderly, shut-ins and disabled persons, who may not either afford internet services or may simply not be au-fait with how the technology works.

The legal and technological infrastructural requirements may also be two major impediments. Users will be required to update their training in the software technology. Laws will be required to be amended to support this type of practice. Legal requirements for prescription-writing will need to verify and authenticate the transaction, so as to disallow any form of falsification and irrational drug dispensing.

Telemedicine has limitations to certain disease conditions but there can be a smart solution to an already overburdened health system where you can maximize the capacity of the inadequate numbers of healthcare workers for the routine and uncomplicated scenarios. This will lessen the burden of the workload and make the health system user-friendly. A reliable internet service is essential for this mechanism to work.

For further pharmacological guidance, contact the pharmacist of Medicine Express PHARMACY, located at 223 Camp Street, between Lamaha and New Market Streets. If you have any queries, comments or further information on the above topic, kindly forward them to medicine.express@gmail.com or send them to 223 Camp Street, N/burg. Tel #225-5142.