Telenursing
Among its many benefits, telenursing may help solve increasing shortages of nurses; to reduce distances and save travel time, and to keep patients out of hospital.
A common application of telenursing is also used by call centers operated by managed care organizations, which are staffed by registered nurses who act as case managers or perform patient triage, information and counseling as a means of regulating patient access and flow and decrease the use of emergency rooms.
Telephone triage services are beneficial in decreasing the amount of nonemergent patient visits to emergency departments.
Due to the remoteness of the Australian landscape it is vital that residents living in rural areas have access to clinical support and care.
[9][10][11][12] It is especially useful in many environments with limited access to care, including rural areas, emergency rooms, natural disasters and crisis zones, and warfronts.
[13] Telepsychiatry improves integrated and patient-centered care, allowing for the incorporation of mental health resources into the overall treatment of the patient.
[14] In addition to direct patient care, telenursing and telepsychiatry, the use of technology in mental health has made a significant impact on crisis intervention and suicide prevention.
With societal changes occurring all across the globe, it became apparent that the medical field needed to devise a new way of delivering care in order to promote social distancing, quarantining when required, and the preservation of limited hospital resources.
State-wide lockdowns were implemented to decrease the spread of the novel Corona Virus and Telehealth was and continues to be a way to make healthcare more accessible to people all around the country, especially in rural regions of America.
[17] The benefits of Telehealth during a pandemic appear to outweigh the risks: it will decrease overhead costs, is convenient, promotes infection control, connects medical personal from different regions, and allows for rapid triage.
[19] Thus, telehealth has significantly grown during the pandemic as it increases social distancing by reducing the need for patient travel and going to crowded places.
In many countries, interstate and intercountry practice of telenursing is forbidden (the attending nurse must have a license both in their state/country of residence and in the state/country where the patient receiving telecare is located).
Digital clinical data transmission increases the risk that outside sources may intercept and exploit sensitive patient information.
Most telehealth nurses work for a hospital or organization that provides them with a laptop and a very high level of security and encryption so that hackers and outside sources may not intercept patients' sensitive and personal information.
[23] Currently, the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) outlines rule sand regulations on how healthcare providers store and share patients' personal data.
