Telehealth Nursing is perceived as a groundbreaking invention in health care service. It offers top-quality care with increased efficiency when compared to the regular walk-in.
By definition, telehealth Nursing means providing health care service to patients out of the hospital with the help of telecommunications devices.
In Telenursing, the patient gets catered for by Nurse Practitioners (NPs) or Registered Nurses (RNs). That’s why it’s different from Telehealth. Telenursing is also arguably safe, cost-effective, and timely.
If you think about it, not having to face any crowds of patients and not waiting as long as you before makes it worth the hype.
Telenursing uses telecommunications channels to bridge the distance between patient and nurse. This communication could be done in one of 3 ways:
As a concept, Telenursing is evolving and constantly changing to implement new favorable policies and convenience quotas.
But is it worth it? Is it worth a trial, or should you avoid it together?
Is Telehealth good or bad?
Let’s find out what’s what and what’s not about the Telehealth Nursing service.
5 Benefits Of TeleNursing
- Better Outreach
Before Telenursing was implemented, quality nurses could only reach out to a handful of patients who could find their way down to their hospital center.
People who lived in rural areas were at a disadvantage as it would take hours or days before getting to a hospital. With about 20% of America’s population living in rural areas, and less than 8% of health practitioners there, something had to be done.
Telehealth and Telenursing were the answers.
It made it easier for doctors to reach out more and help a larger population. It modified the implementation of health services and increased the number of patients a doctor could reach.
In or out-of-state nurses could quickly put in extra hours and increase their income. Telenursing removed the distance barrier and made health consultants more reachable.
2. It helps Patient Manage Chronic Conditions more efficiently.
For patients with chronic conditions like adverse cases of diabetes or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease that need the presence of an in-house nurse, Telenursing makes it more accessible.
Nurses can choose to monitor a patient’s health conditions remotely. This system also makes the nurses accessible as they could be easily reached in an emergency. Overall it would help ensure that patients wouldn’t have to visit the ER frequently. Telenursing also makes it easier for patients to reach out to their health practitioners. Even if you are thousands of miles away from the nearest hospital, you wouldn’t have to worry about anything as long as you’ve got a communication device or a phone with you.
3. Telenursing is cost-effective
According to Regency: most patients spend an average of $100 – $150 for every visit to the hospital.
But you don’t have to keep burning that kind of cash for hospital visits. An average Telenursing consultation costs $50 or less. That already cuts the supposed spending by half. It could be cheaper if you had health insurance.
Usually, for regular hospital check-ins, that’s not all you’d spend. You’d spend some time in traffic and some money for food or snacks if you have to wait a while before you get attended to.
Oh! And parking tickets too!
Telenursing helps you cut through hurdles and go straight to the chase without spending more but less.
4. Less Exposure
Regardless of how you feel about it, the Telenursing advantages work both ways. Both parties involved benefit from it. Maybe it is majorly saving time and spending less for consultation for the patient.
But, for health practitioners, it means they could put in some extra hours of work for more revenues. And also, it reduces their exposure to strange and contagious illnesses.
There are many out there, but the whole world can relate to covid. Imagine that as a Nurse, you could put the patient through a test they could take to know the state of their illness.
5. Easier Access to Information
You’ve heard the phrase “Ignorance is a disease,” and you’ve also been bored with the saying that: prevention is better than cure.
Well, the regular walk-in procedure made it a lot harder to walk into a hospital to inquire from your doctor or nurse. Nobody wants to go through all that trouble because you want the doctor’s advice on if aspirin is good for you or your pregnant lover.
Telenursing fudges a new approach as all you’d now need for that kind of information is a simple phone call.
Ain’t that charming?
What are the Disadvantages of Telenursing?
Like me, you are probably concerned if Telenursing is manageable.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great concept and should be appraised for the easy access to good health it gives every individual, like leveling the playing field. Now, you don’t have to see any of your loved ones go through agony before being attended to by a Nurse.
So, what could go wrong with this good health scheme?
- Insurance
A large number of the issuers do not cover telemedicine. Most of the telehealth consultation cost would be covered by you. Presently, just 26 states have insurance that covers telemedicine.
Whatever you spend will be reimbursed if you have insurance from these states. Otherwise, you’d have to pay and move on with your life.
However, since many states are reviewing their policies, there’s a chance things will change shortly.
2. Safety of Data
The Hippocratic oath wouldn’t allow any doctor to betray you or share your information. However, since everything is automated and online, hackers can leak data, especially if you access your telenurse with public wifi or network.
3. Wrong Diagnosis
You are not in the same room with your nurse could be harmful. The truth is they can only work with the information provided. Since they could only see and direct.
If you are asked to run a test or check for temperature and do it inappropriately due to your inexperience, it will affect the overall result. It might lead to giving you a diagnosis north of what the problem is. Like everything else, Telenursing comes with its good and evil. But, it’s an improvement from the type of health services we operate, and it is worth it, especially for rural dwellers.
