We Need To Make Sure We Are Optimising Our Approach And Use Of Telehealth Now The Pandemic May Be Settling!

This appeared last week: 18 July 2022Is telehealth the great panacea for rural health?Simon Judkins, Belinda Hibble& Stephen GourleyIssue 27 / 18 July 2022Instead of a telehealth explosion, where “we will get back in touch with you”, we need to refocus on a rural workforce explosion, where we can have clinicians and patients actually within hand’s reach of each otherOUT of a crisis comes opportunity, and with the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic marching on, opportunities to transform many aspects of our health care systems have flourished.One of the areas that has gained much interest is the potential expansion of investment in telehealth in its various guises. We have seen utility in supporting primary care, managing outpatient clinics, mental health consultations, and increasing use in emergency department (ED) settings.The stars have aligned for this innovation in health care. Telehealth manages the risk of exposure to a wildly contagious disease (for both staff and patients). It allows for reduced movement of people within the community – a further benefit during lockdowns.Now that the restrictions have eased and the world is opening up, we are seeing the results of delayed care and increasing patient complexity putting further pressure on an already overloaded health care system. Telehealth has hidden the queues, keeping people in their homes rather than placing them within overcrowded EDs and wards.Much of the news has been good news.With the ev...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: blogs