Five Ways Nursing Homes Can Utilize Telehealth

telehealth for nursing homesLong-term care facilities, and in particular nursing homes, can utilize telehealth to provide patients with a higher level of care. This branch of telemedicine focuses on providing health care, emergency services and psychological treatment to patients at nursing homes from a distance through telecommunication technologies. Telehealth enables doctors and nurses to access medical records instantly, provide patient monitoring remotely, track vital signs without having to physically visit patients, teleconference with other healthcare providers including specialists not located nearby and allow for remote training of staff in real time.

In this article we will discuss five ways telehealth can be leveraged at nursing facilities.

 

Monitoring for Serious Illness or Injury

 

Nursing homes should consider implementing telehealth so they can monitor their residents who might have serious conditions such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Telehealth can be used to monitor patients who suffer from these illnesses and others, and ensure they are receiving the care they need on a continuous basis.

Telehealth enables telemedicine that is conducted using telecommunication technologies to connect healthcare providers to patients located at nursing homes in real time. This enables nursing homes to provide superior care by enabling specialists and other healthcare professionals to closely monitor patient’s health remotely via teleconference or telepresence which allows them to interact with nurses and doctors by way of video conferencing, live scanning for medical records or being shown diagnostic images.

 

 

Keeping Track of Vital Signs

 

Another application of telehealth in nursing homes is that it allows individualized telemonitoring of a patient’s vital signs and can be easily accessed by telehealth specialists or telemedical providers.

Telehealth telemedical monitoring allows for the remote tracking of an individual’s blood pressure, pulse rate and other medical conditions. This telemedicine tool enables healthcare providers to monitor patients’ vital signs from home using telecommunication technologies and report their findings to nursing homes in real time thus ensuring they are providing better care overall.

 

 

Tracking Medication

 

Medication can also be tracked using telehealth. Nursing homes can remotely monitor whether a patient is taking all of his/her prescribed medications as prescribed on a daily basis. Telehealth also connects healthcare providers with individuals who might be suffering from life-threatening chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS.

Telehealth telemedical technology allows medical experts to detect which medications are being taken by patients, if they are taking them at the right times and how much of each medication should be consumed based on a patient’s specific needs. This technology also enables healthcare providers to teleconference with specialists regarding a patient’s health issues making it one of the most valuable telehealth tools nursing homes can utilize.

 

 

Monitoring for Psychological Treatment

 

Nursing homes can monitor their residents who might have depressive or anxiety disorders from a distance in real time via telecommunication technologies without having to physically visit them. This ability provides nursing home staff with more time to concentrate on other residents and attend to their other needs while at the same time ensuring they are receiving psychological care if required.

Telehealth telepsychiatry allows for psychiatrists and psychologists to teleconference with patients from a distance using telecommunication technologies and provide them with treatment as well as monitor them in real time. This telemedicine tool enables psychiatric professionals to adequately treat residents who are suffering from mental illnesses regardless of where they might be located at any given point in time thus further improving the overall quality of care provided by nursing homes around the world.

 

 

Looking Out for Other Health Problems

 

Nurses have to keep a close eye on their residents and ensure they do not have other serious medical conditions or diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and a host of other physical and mental health issues.

Telehealth telemedical technology allows specialists, physicians and healthcare providers to teleconference with patients from nursing homes in real time using telecommunication technologies without having to visit them physically saving both the patients as well as nursing home staff a great deal of time, effort and money making telehealth telemedicine one of the most valuable telehealth tools provided by modern healthcare. Telehealth also helps nurses monitor their patients better to look out for any other issues or diseases, so they can be treated in a timely manner.

 

 

Conclusion 

 

Nursing homes should consider telehealth monitoring because it allows medical experts to teleconference with patients from a distance and provide them with the care they need without having to leave their home thus ensuring better patient outcomes overall.

Nursing homes can utilize telehealth telemedicine so that they can remotely monitor a patient’s vital signs and ensure that he or she is receiving adequate treatment for major life-threatening health conditions without having to visit nursing homes physically.

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