How can telemedicine programs such as URMC’s reduce health disparities and inequalities for patients in underserved areas of the community or of lower economic status?
Primarily, telemedicine programs have unrivaled potential when it comes to solving health disparities and inequalities. This can primarily be achieved through many aspects that telemedicine solves. First, telemedicine cuts the gap of lack of access to transportation. Transportation may be a geographic problem for people who live in remote areas and hence lack good roads or other modes of transportation. Secondly, for those who lack fare, telemedicine solves this problem. This is primarily in the case of searching for a particular group of few specialists who are only found in major cities thus may require one to take multiple flights which are usually costly in order to bridge the geographic distance (Wong, Stafylis, & Klausner, 2020) . Another way through which telemedicine solves health disparity in health is that one can access culturally competent providers. For instance, in the case of a language barrier with a local provider one may seek to connect with a provider who understands one's language. Ailments that are commonly unique to individuals of African origin may be handled by providers with a background in African diseases through telemedicine. Thirdly, telehealth provides quick access to care in terms of diagnosis and crucially lifesaving consultancy services. An example is a case of interpreting imaging results that are sent through tele-radiology for specialist radiology to interpret in a patient who has had a stroke or head trauma and the result quickly send to the primary care doctor to decide on the next course of action for the patient. Besides consultancy on emergencies such as epileptic fit, hypoglycemic episodes or any other unconscious state can be sought. Perhaps the biggest appreciation of telemedicine has been seen in the 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic where individuals on 2home based care who are under isolation have an avenue where they can get care. It has solved the gap in caring for patients with highly infectious diseases thus saving a lot of resources that could have gone towards the use of scarce personal protective equipment (Monaghesh & Hajizadeh, 2020) .
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Despite the technological advances in health care (i.e., mobile health, wearables, and telemedicine), what barriers still exist for patients to access them to improve their quality of life?
Patients still face multiple barriers in their quest for access to care despite the technological advances in healthcare. Primarily is the lack of adequate financing to ensure that technological advances are easy to use and accessible to the patient affordably and simply. Not all Americans have easy access to internet broadband which is mainly used in telemedicine due to inadequate infrastructural access or cost. Even some households in rural areas lack digital technology that may be used as a substitute. On the same line occasional breakdown in internet interconnectivity that at times take long to be restored causes distress to the majority of the patient who may decide to entirely give up on it and resolve to physical visits. Secondly, technological literacy is not universal in America. Some patients lack the skills to operate technological and digital devices on their own either due to ignorance, cognitive impairment, or physical disabilities. This in essence is an extension of the digital divide. The fear of a breach of confidential information through telemedicine is another barrier that keeps patients and providers away from telemedicine. Patients are concerned that their confidential information may be leaked through the transmission of data to other centers in the case of malicious attacks. On the other hand, organizations with strong regulations and keen on avoiding medical-legal lawsuits in case of breach of firewall systems and other encryptions are reluctant to share information with centers that may not be perceived to have a strong security system. This decreases information sharing and a lack of access to several specialists who are few such as neuro-radiologists. Lastly, a rather obvious barrier to access to technological advances in health by the patient is the innate belief in some patients that in-person care is the best in terms of outcomes. This is supported by the fact that telemedicine has a higher rate of misdiagnosis than in-person health care. This maybe occasioned by the fact that non-medical personnel is the ones that may be involved in managing the patient information that is to be shared with the remote consultancy center. Besides, telemedicine is perceived as being too impersonal and over burdensome by both patients and providers alike (Gonzalez, 2019) .
References
Gonzalez, B. (2019). Promise of Mobile Health Technology to Reduce Disparities in Patients With Cancer and Survivors. American Society of Clinical Oncology Journal . Retrieved from https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/CCI.17.00141
Monaghesh, E., & Hajizadeh, A. (2020). The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: a systematic review based on current evidence. BMC Public Health Journal .
Wong, K., Stafylis, C., & Klausner, J. (2020). Telemedicine: a solution to disparities in human immunodeficiency virus prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake, and a framework to scalability and equity. mHealth . Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7138949/
