Benefits of Telemedicine

Time and Money in Healthcare

Time and money are the two priceless and essential elements that can worsen the emotional, physical, and physiological well-being of a patient and family members if they are not well managed during sickness. In fact, if the limited resources are minimized regarding expenditure, and the time of travel between home and the health center is moderated, the rate of recuperation of the patient in question is realized faster. The case of one Stephen Stock who was suffering from leukaemia, and was under pressure to be driven through a distance of close to 520 kilometers weekly for 12 hours is no different. Time lost fatigue for both Sharon (wife to Stephen Stock) and he, loss of time and escalated expenditure were evidenced. Nevertheless, with the introduction of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), healthcare service delivery was devolved and accessing medical care became convenient. Some of the evidenced benefits, other than boosted morale for patients include; ease of access to health services, efficiency in transport and clinical operations as well as the savings on expenditure and time spent.

Critical Analysis

Access to care

Being closer to centers of heath care indeed saves patients from emotional and physical stress, as well as financial pressure. Since the year 2006, tens of thousands of patients have been beneficiaries of the OTN program in Ontario. The chief executive officer of the OTN, Dr Ed Brown; reports that many patients have delivered lengthy and emotional tales about convenience, time budgeting, and distance coverage when it comes to seeking healthcare (The Globe and Mail, 2015). OTN is funded by the local government, and hence it is a nonprofit establishment whose mission and vision is tailored to ease the dispensation of medical services to the public. In fact, Teleophthalmology and Teledermatology services have been programmed under a telemedicine network, which has helped save time and money. A direct beneficiary of convenience and the accessibility of OTN is one James Schiefer, a retired architect in Ontario. Together with Annie, his wife, they have been seeking cancer treatment within a health center within range; barely two minutes of driving. Earlier on, they used to travel tens of kilometers before accessing healthcare (The Globe and Mail, 2015). Apparently, Mr Schiefer is on chemotherapy and enjoys telemedicine services, being in contact with his oncologist through teleconferencing.

Efficiency

Telemedicine brings with it lots of conveniences and benefits to the patient. In fact, the program makes the establishment of a patient-centered model of service delivery realistic. Less sophisticated but essential functions like dietary management are made possible. Furthermore, Telehomecare becomes more comfortable to practice. Telehomecare entails services like pulse recording, mass checking and Body Mass Index calculations, put on record regular physical exercising, diabetes checks, blood pressure confirmations among other critical tests (The Globe and Mail, 2015). All these services help reduce risk and avoid unnecessary visits to the doctor, as nurses help do them with convenience.

Savings

It is estimated that since the introduction of OTN, more than $310 million in cost have been avoided on patient-related transport (The Globe and Mail, 2015). Other than this, time expenditure has been saved, considering that on average, for every hospital visit, each patient among the tens of thousands has avoided covering 200 kilometers to and from their respective clinics. Indeed, telemedicine is the new mode of approach in the twenty-first century, which has helped to make robust the healthcare systems and conveniently avert cost (The Globe and Mail, 2015). Indeed, telemedicine saves people money, emotional and physical distress as well as enabling time management operations.

Annotated Bibliography

The Globe and Mail. (2015). Care Closer to Home Saves Time and Money_Critical_Analysis01242018.pdf.

This article focuses on the proposition that care closer to home saves time and money. Typically, the author engages an evidenced-based approach to certify the claims that telemedicine is a program that helps save money, time, and reduce emotional as well as physical distress not only on the part of the patient but also for the clinical practitioners and relative. The weakness of this article is that the author focuses more on a limited geographical area (Ontario), and does create a platform for the application of telemedicine across the country and the world over. Nevertheless, because the language used is simple, real-time examples are evidenced, and the standard objectives have been addressed by the author; this source is suitable and hence appropriate for this assignment.

Reference

The Globe and Mail. (2015). Care Closer to Home Saves Time and Money_Critical_Analysis01242018.pdf.