Telehealth vs. Telemedicine and Safety within the realm of Schizophrenia
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Overview
What is Telehealth vs. telemedicine?
What are some major benefits of Telehealth to the mental health population?
What are the implications of Telehealth for the future of the treatment and management of Schizophrenia?
Definition of Telehealth vs. Telemedicine
Telehealth is the remote provision of direct and indirect health related services from one location to another utilizing telecommunications. Telehealth includes not just delivery of services to a patient by a provider, but may also encompass administrative or managerial support as well as training of personnel via a web portal. Typically these provisions are geared toward improvements in care of underserved or minority populace.
Telemedicine deals directly with the delivery of medical services and care from provider to patient through the use of satellite or telecommunications services. This solution could be utilized for either local or remote application.
How does Telehealth enhance safety?
Telehealth enhances safety through facilitating services to more adequately address acute/ chronic mental health concerns.
Telehealth benefits and safety with schizophrenia
Provides an opportunity for faster and more efficient delivery of care.
Increases access to health care thereby reducing risk of individual producing harm to self or others.
Provides a more cost efficient mode of care delivery, reducing travel related incidentals.
Provides for more efficient management and monitoring of the condition to prevent high incidence of relapse associated with this patient population.
Role of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Facilitation of psychiatric interviews, diagnosis and management of mental health conditions.
Promotion and utilization of applications for monitoring such as web cams, teleconferencing, two-way audio conferencing and remote monitors.
Telehealth role in promoting happier, healthier and more productive lives
Schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment and management have shown tremendous promise with integration with smart phone technology. The data from research suggests individuals enjoy a more productive and happier state of existence given the management and monitoring advantage afforded by applications within the field.
REFERENCES
Amirsadri, A., Burns, J., Pizzuti, A., & Arfken, C. L. (2017). Home-based telepsychiatry in US
urban area. Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2017, 6296423-3. doi:10.1155/2017/6296423
Daker-White, G., & Rogers, A. (2013). What is the potential for social networks and support to
enhance future telehealth interventions for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia: A
critical interpretive synthesis. BMC Psychiatry, 13(1), 279-279. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-
13-279.
Dorsey, E. R., & Topol, E. J. (2016). State of telehealth. The New England Journal of Medicine,
375(2), 154-161. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1601705
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