Healthcare Trends and Issues–

Telehealth
By:
Jyoti Deol, Shafonda Horsey, Madison McClafferty &
Margaret Smith
Introduction

● Telehealth and telemedicine are often used interchangeably.

● Mayo Clinic shares that telehealth refers to the use of online information and communication tools to

manage your health care and receive medical treatments from afar. Computers and portable devices

like phones and tablets are examples of technologies you could use at home. Alternatively, a nurse or

other healthcare provider could offer telehealth services from a clinic or mobile van, for example in

rural areas( Mayo Clinic, 2022).

The Rising Role of Telemedicine and What it Means to Nurses. Purdue University Northwest. (n.d.).
https://nursingonline.pnw.edu/programs/telemedicine-nursing/
Introduction Continued
● When the ongoing epidemic severely limited patients' capacity to see their doctors, COVID-19 triggered a major acceleration in the

adoption of telehealth services and helped expand access to care. Thanks to virtual health technologies, healthcare businesses may

now rethink how treatment is provided and managed in the long run.

● With the help of advanced remote monitoring technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare

workers can provide high-quality care across the world to more people while keeping patients and providers safe.

● These solutions range from using AI-assisted health bots to triage patient symptoms to extending virtual visits between doctors and

their patients to improve patient engagement (Roth, 2021).

● The aim of telehealth is to make services more accessible or convenient for those with restricted mobility, time, or transportation,

provide access to medical experts, and enhance communication and care coordination between the medical staff and the patient

(Mayo Clinic, 2022).

Here is a short YouTube Video explaining Telehealth and its impact!

YouTube. (2018). What is Telehealth. YouTube. Retrieved October 10, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhP7VlgABCc&ab_channel=UQFacultyofMedicine.
Nursing Implications to Telehealth

Telehealth has many implications to nursing practice such as:

● Improves nursing care efficiency- increased patient retention, offers around the clock care, increases patient satisfaction and

enhances patient health outcomes.

● Enables financial savings

○ For both patients and the health care system. Avoiding expense of unnecessary ER visits, travel expenses.

○ Relieves burden of health care provider.

● Decreased risk of illness spread- decreases spread of contagious illnesses such as cold, flu, covid to other patients and health

care providers.

● Convenience

○ Increases access to care for people with disabilities or those living in rural areas.
Nursing Actions

Telehealth enables nurses to provide patients with education on disease management,

medication regimen, education about self-care at home such as minor burns or

dressing a wound, appointment scheduling, review lab results and medication refills.

The Rising Role of Telemedicine and What it Means to Nurses. Purdue University Northwest. (n.d.).
https://nursingonline.pnw.edu/programs/telemedicine-nursing/
Professional Nursing Practice & Ethics in Professional Nursing

The American Nurses Association has a page dedicated to telehealth with resources on telehealth

applications, as well as listed stances.

● The ANA states, “Provision 1- The use of connected health technologies does not alter the standards of professional

practice when delivering healthcare, conducting research, or providing education. Developed by each profession, in this

case nursing, these standards focus on the healthcare professional’s responsibility to provide lawful, evidenced-based

and high-quality personalized care regardless of the method of delivery, grounded in the Nurses Code of Ethics.”

American Nurses Association. (2019). ANA Core Principles on Connected Health https://www.nursingworld.org/~4a9307/globalassets/docs/ana/practice/ana-

core-principles-on-connected-health.pdf
Information Management and Technology

With the use of telemedicine, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a concern.

It is important for nurses to maintain confidentiality for their patients and collaborate with cyber security teams

to keep their work secure. HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) recommends,

the “four best practices for Data Privacy and Telehealth include: Strong authentication, End-to-end encryption,

Keep a clean machine, When in doubt, throw it out.” (Kim, 2021).

Kim, L. (2021, December 16). Data Privacy and Telehealth: Protect the data, protect the patient. HIMSS. https://www.himss.org/resources/data-privacy-and-telehealth-protect-data-protect-patient
Advocacy and Interprofessional Collaboration
● Nurses have had the role in advocating for use of telehealth for patients, as well as advocating while using telehealth with patients.

● Telehealth makes providers accessible to nurses from a distance.

○ This is helpful in rural areas which may lack having specialists, or it may include being able to stay in for check ins that may not

require a physical assessment at the visit.

● With the use of telehealth, multiple members of patients' healthcare teams may be able to collaborate with the patient when coming

up with a plan of care.

● Interprofessional collaboration is involved with telehealth through meetings of the healthcare team, using a nurse for triaging in a

physician's office, or using a nurse for assessment of bluetooth acquired data and reporting back to the doctor (Rutledge & Gustin,

2021).
Rutledge, C., & Gustin, T. (2021). Preparing nurses for roles in telehealth: Now is the time! OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1).
https://doi.org/10.3912/ojin.vol26no01man03
Health Promotion & Disease Prevention for Diverse Populations

● Telehealth allows for the ability for nurses to participate in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for Diverse Populations. Telehealth allows

nurses to provide needed education for diverse populations by making resources accessible in the home.

● Telehealth interventions for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic review and

meta-analysis looked into using telehealth as a “solution” for cardiac rehabilitation attendance for coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. The

analysis looked into randomized controlled trials to evaluate patients (with CHD) health and look into if the client completed follow up visits, “all-

cause mortality, rehospitalization/ cardiac events and modifiable risk factors.” The review found, “Telehealth was significantly associated with lower

rehospitalization or cardiac events (RR=0.56, 95% CI=0.39 to 0.81, p<0.0001) compared with non-intervention groups.” The analysis included in the

conclusion, “Telehealth interventions with a range of delivery modes could be offered to patients who cannot attend cardiac rehabilitation, or as an

adjunct to cardiac rehabilitation for effective secondary prevention.”

Jin K, Khonsari S, Gallagher R, et al. Telehealth interventions for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European

Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 2019;18(4):260-271. doi:10.1177/1474515119826510

informatics. The article then goes on to explain what telehealth is, as well as the different roles the nurse may have in telehealth. Throughout the explanations, the

article states, “The American Telemedicine Association (ATA, 2020) projects that more than half of all healthcare services will be delivered virtually by 2030….”

(Rutledge and Gustin, 2021). To be able to accommodate the projected need for healthcare telehealth services, nursing education is recommended to provide

didactic information as well as simulation for students so they feel comfortable in the role as a telehealth nurse.

The article then goes on to explain the framework of implementing and evaluating the use of telehealth for different aspects of patient care. “The Four P’s of

Telehealth serves as an ideal framework to provide appropriate, comprehensive training in telehealth. This framework addresses all facets of telehealth, from the

conceptualization of the idea to the evaluation of outcomes. The Four P’s include: 1) planning, 2) preparing, 3) providing, and 4) performance evaluation (

Rutledge et al., 2020).” (Rutledge and Gustin, 2021). This framework also applies to quality improvement in nursing to evaluate how telehealth is affecting patient

care.

Rutledge, C., & Gustin, T. (2021). Preparing nurses for roles in telehealth: Now is the time! OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.3912/ojin.vol26no01man03
Conclusion

● Telehealth makes health care services more accessible and affordable.

● The popularity of telehealth continues to increase steadily with a 1000% to 10,000% increase in the utilization of

telemedicine visits by health systems since the start of Covid-19.

● It is the solution to the barriers of healthcare such as transportation access, physical disabilities, long waiting periods

for appointment availability and healthcare costs.

● Easier access to healthcare services allows patients to better manage their health conditions and promotes wellness.

Most importantly, telehealth enhances the provider-patient relationship and provides patients with ease of mind.
Miller, J. (2020, December 2). The new normal: Making the most of Telehealth. Healio. https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20201202/the-new-normal-
making-the-most-of-telehealth
References
● American Nurses Association. (2019). ANA Core Principles on Connected Health

https://www.nursingworld.org/~4a9307/globalassets/docs/ana/practice/ana-core-principles-on-connected-health.pdf

● Jin K, Khonsari S, Gallagher R, et al. Telehealth interventions for the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: A systematic

review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 2019;18(4):260-271. doi:10.1177/1474515119826510

● Kim, L. (2021, December 16). Data Privacy and Telehealth: Protect the data, protect the patient. HIMSS.

https://www.himss.org/resources/data-privacy-and-telehealth-protect-data-protect-patient

● Miller, J. (2020, December 2). The new normal: Making the most of Telehealth. Healio.

https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20201202/the-new-normal-making-the-most-of-telehealth

● Rutledge, C., & Gustin, T. (2021). Preparing nurses for roles in telehealth: Now is the time! OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in

Nursing, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.3912/ojin.vol26no01man03