Medical Informatics Assignment Paper
Medical Informatics Assignment Paper
For the underprivileged elderly population will telemedicine increase patient care and patient adherence compared to traditional face to face appointments?
Population: Underprivileged elderly
Intervention: Telemedicine
Comparison: Traditional face to face appointments
Outcome: increase patient care and patient adherence
As Husebø & Storm (2014) state, a high number of the elderly people have a higher prevalence of chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, stroke, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, among other chronic diseases. In addition, the elderly population also experience disabilities and also reduced the ability to perform activities of daily living. These issues decrease the capability of the population to take care of their own needs and also increase the need for health care services. Medical Informatics Assignment Paper
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The accessibility and the cost of face to face appointments for the elderly population is an issue that needs to be addressed and nurse can play a significant role in addressing this issue. Majority of the elderly population receive a fixed income while some do not have any income. In addition, some of the senior patients lack the appropriate support to assist to attend their frequent appointments and clinic reviews. Basically, paying for the medical costs and frequent appointments as well as the transportation costs for the appointments is a major challenge for the underprivileged elderly population. Therefore, it is essential to develop strategies that can improve access to healthcare services for the underprivileged elderly population. The intervention such as telemedicine can thus improve the accessibility to the healthcare services and also reduce the associated health costs.
Review of Literature
According to Husebø & Storm (2014), the many elderly have increased the prevalence of chronic diseases, disabilities, as well as reduced ability to perform activities of daily living. This population, therefore, needs not only frequent medical care but also effective monitoring of their health status (Merrell, 2015). Telemedicine provides an alternative to providing medical services without the patients having to physically go to the healthcare facility (Bashir & Bastola, 2018). Telemedicine focuses on the patients and involves using the technology to assist, monitor and provide care to patients, from distance. This is further elaborated by Bujnowska-Fedak & Grata-Borkowska (2015) who explains that telemedicine care can meet the needs of the elderly population by monitoring the patients’ safety and security; monitoring their vital signs and health parameters like pulse rate, glucose levels, blood pressure; as well as in providing support and educative information such as text reminders reminding patients to take their medications or attend their medical appointments. Further, Greenwald et al (2018) found out that telemedicine was effective in providing care to the older population and that the older patients unreservedly accepted telemedicine. This shows that telemedicine can be effective for the elderly as they are competent enough to take part in the technology involved. Ranjan (2019) also adds that older patients find telemedicine care opportune and convenient and acceptable among the elderly.
Potyraj (2018) explains that telemedicine can help reduce the healthcare costs for older adults. This is because telemedicine makes it possible for the seniors to be assessed and even receive treatment remotely and this eliminates costs associated with visiting healthcare facilities. This is supported by Whitten (2002) who explains that telemedicine significantly reduced healthcare costs. Therefore, because of the convenience and reduction of healthcare costs associated with telemedicine; telemedicine can be an effective tool for increasing patient care and improving treatment adherence to the underprivileged elderly population. This is emphasized by Vollenbroek-Hutten et al (2015) & Banova (2018) who provide that telemedicine allows monitoring and treatment of patient remotely and significantly lower healthcare costs saving the patients’ money. The saved healthcare costs can improve care and adherence to treatment for older adults due to improved accessibility for healthcare services for this population. Medical Informatics Assignment Paper
Appraisal and Synthesis
Studies present the benefits associated with telemedicine for the geriatric population that include improved access to care, convenience, and reduced healthcare costs. Vollenbroek-Hutten et al (2015) showed that telemedicine is widely accepted by patients and therefore feasible for the older adults. This study reviewed numerous similar studies and ensured the reliability of the study methodology. However, the study had a small sample size limiting generalization of the study results. Article by Ranjan (2019) clearly outlines the many benefits of telemedicine but lack the research methodology to increased reliability and viability of the article’s information. Similarly, while Potyraj (2018) effectively illustrates the feasibility of telemedicine in terms of reducing healthcare costs, among other benefits, the article lacks a research design. On the other hand, Greenwald et al (2018) conducted an observational study on the use of telemedicine among the older adults and the findings indicated that telemedicine is widely accepted among this population. The sample size was adequate ensuring reliability and viability of the study results. Similarly, Whitten (2002) conducted a systematic review and the methods used to locate and select studies reduced the bias and therefore the study findings were reliable and accurate. Husebø & Storm (2014) used a literature review and consulted with telemedicine experts to provide information regarding the evidence telemedicine benefits for the elderly population. Banova (2018) illustrates the benefits of technology and specifically telemedicine; however, this article lacks a designed study methodology impacting the reliability of the study results. A study by Bashir & Bastola (2018) adopted a qualitative study and used widely accepted tools for data collection. In addition, follow-up interviews were performed to validate the research tools. This reduced bias and also improved the reliability of the study findings. While the studies indicated the applicability, acceptability, and benefits of telemedicine for the older adults; the studies do not show how the telemedicine technology should be individualized to fit the various needs of the geriatric population.
Further Research
The future research should focus on how telemedicine can be personalized and take into consideration the age-related issues of the geriatric population such as vision-related issues and hearing issues. Older persons are likely to experience visual problems such as difficulties in reading buttons on devices or hearing issues that involved problems with sound localization. In order to ensure that the telemedicine systems are operational and user-friendly to the older adults, it is important to take into consideration the age-related issues such as the behavior, perception, and cognition during designing of telemedicine applications. This will ensure more acceptability and more usage of telemedicine by the geriatric population, enabling them to reap the evidence benefits of telemedicine. There is a need to address such issues during designing and prototyping of telemedicine applications.
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Conclusion
The reviewed studies clearly indicate the many benefits of telemedicine for older adults. Telemedicine can significantly improve access to healthcare services for the underprivileged older adults because it is convenient and also there are no associated costs such as transportation costs. Due to the accessibility associated with telemedicine, the intervention can significantly improve adherence to treatment and improve patient care for older adults. However, it is important for telemedicine applications to integrate the various needs of the geriatric population during their designing. Medical Informatics Assignment Paper
References
Banova, B. (2018, April 24). The Impact of Technology on Healthcare [Web log post]. Retrieved February 03, 2019, from https://www.aimseducation.edu/blog/the-impact-of-tecnology-on-healthcare/
Bashir, A., & Bastola, D. R. (2018). Perspectives of Nurses Toward Telehealth Efficacy and Quality of Health Care: Pilot Study. JMIR Medical Informatics,6(2). doi:10.2196/medinform.9080
Bujnowska-Fedak, M., & Grata-Borkowska, U. (2015). Use of telemedicine-based care for the aging and elderly: Promises and pitfalls. Smart Homecare Technology and TeleHealth, 91. doi:10.2147/shtt.s59498
Merrell, R. C. (2015). Geriatric Telemedicine: Background and Evidence for Telemedicine as a Way to Address the Challenges of Geriatrics. Healthcare Informatics Research, 21(4), 223. doi:10.4258/hir.2015.21.4.223
Husebø, A. M., & Storm, M. (2014). Virtual Visits in Home Health Care for Older Adults. The Scientific World Journal, 2014, 1-11. doi:10.1155/2014/689873
, September 7). Telemedicine: A Promising Model for Senior Health Care. Aging Care.
Ranjan, D. (2019, January 01). How Telemedicine Benefits the Aging Population and their Caregivers. Retrieved February 03, 2019, from https://prognocis.com/how-telemedicine-benefits-the-aging-population-and-their-caregivers/
Telemedicine Benefits, Telemedicine Pros and Cons. (2018, May 25). Retrieved February 03, 2019, from https://evisit.com/resources/10-pros-and-cons-of-telemedicine/
Vollenbroek-Hutten, M., Tabak, M., Jansen-Kosterink, S., & Dekker, M. (2015). From telemedicine technology to telemedicine services. Proceedings of the 3rd 2015 Workshop on ICTs for Improving Patients Rehabilitation Research Techniques – REHAB ’15. doi:10.1145/2838944.2838972
Whitten, P. S. (2002). A systematic review of cost-effectiveness studies of telemedicine interventions. BMJ, 324(7351), 1434-1437. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7351.1434
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Medical Informatics Assignment Paper
