Question

eHealth, mHealth, social media, and telemedicine are somewhat overlapping but slightly unique from one another. Discuss the scope and impact of each

Answer 1

The EC defines e-Health

"the use of modern information and communication technologies to meet needs of citizens, patients, healthcare professionals, healthcare providers, as well as policy makers" [EC]

The World Health Organisation define e-health

"eHealth is the cost-effective and secure use of information and communications technologies in support of health and health-related fields, including health-care services, health surveillance, health literature, and health education, knowledge and research"

Its Impact And Future:-

e-Health technologies with the potential to have a significant future impact on patient care include Internet-enabled applications for chronic diseases which could help increase citizen empowerment in health maintenance and decision making supporting self-care.

e-Health is expected to improve various aspects of healthcare (quality, cost-efficiency, access ...) by:

Supporting the delivery of care tailored to individual patients, where ICT enables more informed decision making based both on evidence and patient-specific data;

Improving transparency and accountability of care processes and facilitating shared care across boundaries;

Aiding evidence-based practice and error reduction;

Improving diagnostic accuracy and treatment appropriateness;

Improving access to effective healthcare by reducing barriers created, for example, by physical location or disability;

Facilitating patient empowerment for self-care and health decision making;

Improving cost-efficiency by streamlining processes, reducing waiting times and waste.

2. mHealth
3. World Health Organization (WHO)
"Mobile Health (mHealth) is an area of electronic health (eHealth) and it is the provision of health services and information via mobile technologies such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)."

mHealth (mobile health) is a general term for the use of mobile phones and other wireless technology of communication devices to educate consumers about preventive health care services.

However, mHealth is also used for disease surveillance, treatment support, epidemic outbreak tracking and chronic disease management.

mHealth is becoming a popular option in underserved areas where there is a large population and widespread mobile phone usage. Non-profit organizations like mHealth Alliance are advocating for increased use of mHealth in the developing world.

3. Social Media

The use of social media in healthcare has become a growing trend. Healthcare organizations are using social mediachannels like Facebook and Twitter to engage with their past, present and future patients. Why? Communication. Patients no longer have to rely on advertising when choosing a healthcare facility. They can make their decision based on trust. Social media in healthcare allows professionals to demonstrate their expertise through interaction

What are the benefits?

Positive feedback. Past and current patients could say positive things about your facility. They could share a positive experience about their stay, their results, their doctor, etc. and tag or mention your facility in their post. This will also give your facility to respond to their post and recognize them, establishing a relationship. When potential patients see that others had positive experiences, it may positively influence their decision. This feedback will also help you to highlight your organization or facility’s strong suits.

Constructive criticism. Of course, opening up a channel for communication between you and your patients could also invite negative feedback. But either way, they’re engaging with you. After they’ve offered criticism, you can direct the conversation. You can thank them for their comments, offer a solution or use the opportunity to improve your services. Handling criticism will help you maintain confidence.

Personal connection. Posting pictures and videos of the goings-on in your facility may make your social media followers feel a personal connection to your organization. By posting pictures of professionals, patients and their families, your followers can see the faces behind the information. For instance, your healthcare facility could share a patient’s survival story on YouTube. People would be able to see your services and success firsthand.

What are the risks?

Loose lips. Your organization cannot control what its patients say on social media. They may say something that can damage your facility’s reputation — whether it’s accurate or not. Also, you or one of your employees could say something on social media that might rub people the wrong way. It could be something incorrect or offensive. One false or tasteless statement could turn patients and prospects away.

Patient privacy. While sharing pictures of and information about patients does promote positivity, it could also violate their privacy. They may not want these things shared on social media. Also, if a healthcare employee posts private information on their personal page – even if they don’t use any names — they run the risk of causing privacy violation problems. Furthermore, you never know how communication will be received by patients and their families. Even reaching out to them to offer support, advice or condolences could be breaching their privacy. Boundary issues and care disparity claims could result. Making them feel uncomfortable may not be a good thing for your relationship.

Although there are some risks, social media can be helpful to the healthcare industry when it is used to communicate carefully and considerately. Healthcare organizations and facilities have to be especially careful when posting online, because they are dealing directly with people’s personal lives. So as with any social media page, think before you post

4. Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the remote delivery of healthcare services, such as health assessments or consultations, over the telecommunications infrastructure. It allows healthcare providers to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients without the need for an in-person visit.

Healthcare has the potential to greatly improve patient care – but it’s not without its challenges. .

Types of telemedicine

It's three main categories:
remote patient monitoring,
store-and-forward and
interactive telemedicine.

Remote patient monitoring -- Also known as telemonitoring, remote patient monitoring allows patients with chronic diseases to be monitored in their homes through the use of mobile medical devices that collect data about blood sugar levels, blood pressure or other vital signs. Remote caregivers can review the data instantly.

Store-and-forward -- Also known as asynchronous telemedicine, store-and-forward telemedicine allows providers to share patient information, such as lab results, with a physician at another location.

Interactive telemedicine -- Interactive telemedicine allows physicians and patients to communicate in real time. Such sessions can be conducted in the patient's home or in a nearby medical facility and include telephone conversations or the use of video conferencing software that complies with Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act regulations.

Advantages of telemedicine

Convenience -- Patients do not have to take time away from work for an appointment. There is also no travel time or associated expenses, such as paying for gas or child care.

Increased access -- Patients in rural areas can obtain specialty services more easily. Similarly, patients who live in federally designated underserved areas have increased access to primary, dental and mental healthcare.

The advantages of telemedicine for providers include:

Reduced cancellations or no-shows -- Because of its convenience for patients, telemedicine can reduce the number of cancellations or no-shows. Providers can reach out prior to or at the appointment time if the patient forgot about the appointment.

Encourage healthy lifestyle choices -- Telemedicine allows providers to encourage their patients' healthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking cessation.

Disadvantages of telemedicine

Some of the disadvantages of telemedicine include:

Inability to prescribe medications -- Many states generally do not allow online prescribing (not to be confused with e-prescribing) without an established relationship between the physician and patient. A physical examination or evaluation may be required before a physician can write a prescription for a patient, but there are inconsistencies in state laws as to what constitutes a physical examination.

Technical training and equipment -- Providers need to be trained on how to use telemedicine equipment. There are also the associated costs of the equipment, such as integrated telemedicine carts and encounter management software, to consider. The startup cost of implementing telemedicine may be especially prohibitive to rural facilities.

Licensing issues -- Certain states may require providers who practice telemedicine across state lines have a valid license in the state where the patient is located.

The introduction of e-health services – digitally-based, networked, Internet-aided, rapid transfer of medical and scientific information for clinical, research and convenience purposes – is already under way in many countries, with mixed results.

With the world’s population recently hitting the seven billion mark, digital systems are not just vital but inevitable for managing health,
“Information and communications technology will play a key role in delivering health care in the future – that’s true in developing and in developed countries,”
“In the developed world the driver is the ageing population. In the developing world it is a rapidly growing young population.”

Digital health services are under development – or already in service – for a vast array of purposes. These include consumer services for everyday patient use and clinical systems and specialists, to exchange advice or teach over long distances.

E-health services and tools are generally web-enabled and are built for standard uses on personal computers or laptops and, increasingly, for mobile devices, smartphones and tablets. All must wrestle to some degree with the complex issue of interoperability to gain wider and better use in the future: e-health programming requires crossing boundaries in technical, organizational and cultural aspects and it’s vital to have systems that communicate clearly and easily with each other.

There are communication blocks at every turn: in semantic ways, in terms of vast areas of terminology, language, definition, meaning and context that must be negotiated; and also in terms of raw technology, of operating systems and programmes and filing nomenclatures that must work smoothly together.

e-health could help people with brain diseases such as dementia

eHealth laid the groundwork for the country’s centralized electronic health record system by tying it to the nation’s electronic identification network.

“Doctors will send clinical data with specific questions to ‘heart simulator centres’ and get results they can use as a guide.”

If a future filled with e-health tools and systems seems likely, equitable international use of these technologies is likely to be difficult to achieve.
The cost of sustaining digital health technologies could be out of reach for low-income countries. Then there is the question of getting the thousands of agencies and stakeholders – patient groups, pharmaceutical companies, insurers, governments of all sizes, software firms – to agree on a common set of standards.

“There is virtually no one on this earth that is not connected somehow to a mobile device. This makes it a very powerful tool for health-care delivery,”