jeudi 5 mai 2016

The Gains Of Telehealth Nursing

By John Roberts


There are no doubts that the world has finally reached the digital era. You can barely find any industry that does not rely on technology to offer its services. Among the various industries that continue to benefit from the advances of technology, the health sector is arguably the biggest beneficiary. With various innovations like telehealth nursing, no one can dispute the significant role technology has in that sector.

Today, health care providers are in a better job environment than what was there a few decades ago. There are numerous telemedicine technologies available to them that make it easy to provide services. Those benefits are not just being felt by the health care providers, but recipients of their services as well. While it is debatable on whether this can be applied on a larger scale, the gains already made cannot be ignored.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nursing is among the fastest growing occupations. The number of qualified nurses has increased tremendously over the past few years. However, the same studies project that nearly half of the registered nurses are approaching retirement age. Statistics also indicate that nursing school enrollment has recorded a sharp decline. This means that there is an impending shortage of nurses in the near future.

This is coupled by the fact that close to half of the registered nurses are nearing their retirement age. The nursing positions available today are not just limited to the traditional hospital setup. More and more nurses are being recruited to provide ambulatory, long-term and home care. When all indications point to an environment of limited nurses, one can only hope that technology will help to fill those gaps.

For a long time now, nurses have been advocating for some modifications in the health care system. Those changes include better access to educational opportunities, which will help them learn new skills and ideas. It will also help to introduce better documentation that will reduce charting time. Furthermore, such changes can increase access to information. This is exactly what telenursing is going to do for that industry.

In the past, nurses had to wait for new semesters for them to attend classes to gain knowledge. This would imply having to get a replacement at their place of work. With the looming shortage of nurses, that will be highly inconvenience. Thanks to technology, nurses can now attend virtual classes over the internet. When it comes to practicing clinical skills, they can use patient simulation modeling and much more.

Think of the time a nurse would take to complete their paperwork. When they are working in a busy setup, this could greatly affect efficiency in the health care establishment. However, telemedicine now has a solution for documentation through user-friendly software applications that improve chart efficiency.

Telemedicine has do a good job at increasing patient control and autonomy. They can now access most of the information directly, where they get to learn about various conditions and their treatments. Therefore, when they visit a professional, they can have more meaningful discussions, unlike before when they were passive.




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