Question

Will the increased use of these tele-health technology tools be viewed as dehumanizing patient care, or will they be viewed as a means to promote more contact with healthcare providers and new ways for people to stay connected (as in online disease support groups), thereby creating better long-term disease management and patient satisfaction?

Answer 1

Tele health technology is viewed in both positive and negative manner. Positively It offers communication with the varying levels of health care professionals in cost effective mainly for patients with chronic diseases like athma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease etc., In order to treat the patients we have to bring a diagnosis which needs both subjective and objective data. Obtaining subjective data is easy by describing the symptoms by calls, sending reports electronically or seeing a doctor via interactive tele conference. The negative view about tele health technology lies in Obtaining objective data from the patient. For example patient with streptococcal throat infection need to be assessed by medical device or scope like checking vitals, strep culture etc., It is difficult to rely only on subjective data in this case. Without rapid strep test we can't treat the patient. Because of this reason some of them view tele health negatively. But this view can be changed through Enterprise grade video conferencing conjunction with medical scopes and other medical decvices. It can increase access to care for people in rural and geographically isolated areas. The study conducted by Patrick O'Connell reveled that majority of the clients expressed satisfaction about tele health technology.