Virtual health care is an overarching term encompassing remote services across the healthcare industry. Telemedicine, which falls under virtual healthcare, includes delivering clinical services between the patient and the healthcare provider remotely. Alternatively, telehealth describes other related remote services, such as administration, ongoing medical education and training for healthcare providers.
Virtual Care Communication Tools
Virtual care can improve patient engagement and help patients take control of their care. Virtual care communication tools include:
- Videoconferencing software
- Interconnected personal health records with linked patient portals
- Remote health monitoring
- Wearable devices for gathering patient data and providing patient instruction
These communication tools may increase two-way interaction between patients and their healthcare providers in real-time and at their convenience.
What Does Virtual Healthcare Look Like?
Virtual healthcare and telehealth have expanded since the onset of the pandemic. Different areas of rehabilitative and health sciences have also evolved. Learn how telehealth continues to shape various healthcare occupations and what you can expect in the profession.
Occupational Therapy
Virtual occupational therapy tasks involve everything an in-person occupational therapist (OT) does, including:
- Patient evaluation
- Creation of a customized treatment plan
- Coaching the patient through different therapies to maximize function in the affected area
However, virtual OTs can complete these activities using videoconferencing tools and meeting with the patient virtually. Virtual OTs typically need to complete other tasks that in-person OTs don’t need to do, including:
- Testing technology equipment before each appointment
- Creating a plan to deliver resources to the patients before therapy sessions
Speech-Language Therapy
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) or speech therapists work with individuals with a wide array of physical and cognitive communication disorders.
SLPs can work with patients using telecommunication to provide the same services they would provide in person, including:
- Addressing speech and language disorders
- Helping with swallowing and eating difficulties
- Assisting with social communication
- Retraining the voice
With online speech therapy, patients can connect with SLPs who can provide the specialized services they need.
Physical Therapy
A virtual physical therapist’s job is similar to an in-person physical therapist (PT)—they help patients regain their range of motion, manage pain and improve their quality of life.
For virtual PTs, this can look like:
- Verbally guiding the patient through exercises
- Performing the exercises with the patient
- Monitoring the patient’s movements
- Engaging in discussion
Virtual physical therapy provides services to patients living in rural areas or those who lack transportation and don’t have nearby PT clinics.
Telehealth Nurse
Telehealth nurses are registered nurses (RNs) who use virtual care communication tools, such as online portals and videoconferencing, to deliver patient care.
Telehealth nursing job duties include:
- Monitoring vitals and medical data
- Communicating with patients through virtual care tools
- Identifying when a patient should seek medical attention
- Overseeing chronic illnesses
- Recommending treatment plans and educating patients
Becoming a telehealth nurse has many benefits, such as serving patients who may lack access to clinical services and minimizing the risk of contracting a disease.
Benefits of Virtual Healthcare?
Virtual healthcare and telehealth can benefit the healthcare provider and the patient. Below are several advantages of expanding virtual healthcare.
1. Increases Patient Accessibility and Engagement
Allowing both patients and providers the opportunity to communicate asynchronously and share important health information through patient portals and teleconferencing can result in higher patient engagement.
Patients and providers who are open to telehealth and comfortable using communication and information technology for clinical services are more likely to find satisfaction in their healthcare.
88% of surveyed doctors share the opinion that telemedicine has expanded patients’ ability to receive healthcare, and a significant number of them have observed shorter wait times, better compliance with treatment plans and a reduction in missed appointments.
As telemedicine becomes more available to more populations, it can potentially increase overall patient access to healthcare services.
2. Decreases Costs and Travel Expenses
Virtual care streamlines the healthcare system by reducing demand for additional facilities and boosting the use of primary care services, such as preventative and regular dental treatment. Emergency room visits, hospital stays, specialist care, and urgent care fall under this category.
3. Facilitates Patient Convenience
Virtual care is beneficial for those who are sick and want to avoid having to drive to their doctor’s office for an appointment and for those who need more flexibility with scheduling.
Providers can also enjoy increased flexibility. A recent study found that telehealth can provide more job flexibility, such as working from home, and can improve provider quality of life.
4. Decreases Spread of Infectious Diseases
Telehealth has shown evidence of significantly reducing the spread of COVID-19 and has a direct impact on decreasing the infection rate, including monitoring symptoms and promoting physical distance.
Studies have also found that telehealth can potentially reduce the spread of infectious diseases with fewer in-person referrals while minimizing viral exposure and reducing labor for medical providers.
Drawbacks of Virtual Healthcare
There are disadvantages associated with a virtual health platform as well. The primary disadvantage is the inability to provide complete clinical care in one location, leading to the need for patients to travel to a distant medical facility.
Many virtual healthcare providers may store digital copies of data in an unsecured setting, making them vulnerable to hacking and identity theft. Furthermore, a lot of healthcare solutions development services providers do not necessarily provide enough continuity of care for their clients, who may experience sudden changes in health status that require fast decisions on treatment options. Let’s look at the cons of virtual healthcare solutions in brief:
- It will throw up new legal issues. Even with in-person check-ups and treatment, cases against doctors are common. Virtual healthcare will need its codicil to protect both doctors and patients.
- There are no set standards for the health market, and this lack of standardization can lead to a loss of confidence from customers due to security breaches or inappropriate care.
- And most importantly, there are serious security and confidentiality concerns. With the involvement of a third party, users need to be very careful of the information they store on their mHealth apps, and providers need to ensure compliance with operational guidelines to avoid a data breach.
Challenges of Virtual Healthcare Development
Virtual healthcare has come a long way from the humble beginnings of COVID, but still, it is far from developing without any major hurdles. Below are the major challenges virtual healthcare faces and how it can fulfill its requirements.
1. Impediment of Security
Security is imperative when exploring virtual healthcare, but it also presents many roadblocks. Cyber security is based on the assumption that IT infrastructure, systems, and solutions are secure.
However, it is no secret that some of the attacks in the healthcare sector happen because of software flaws, configuration errors, and new technologies failing to withstand different cyber threats in medical software development. That’s where an augmented security system can enhance the process. Hence, we need to develop reliable virtual healthcare technologies that will be completely secure and can remedy this flaw.
2. Inadequate Education
Virtual healthcare is in its inception stage, and those who use the technology should be well-versed in how it works. With multiple healthcare software solutions, doctors may not have enough time to explain every option so they can use the ones that are convenient for them personally. This is why virtual health education was put in place, where people would spend a small amount of their time learning about virtual health apps and make an informed decision on which one suits them.
3. Ease of Use
While this is closely linked to ease of education, many app developers are willing to make their products more user-friendly. Many virtual health apps on the market are difficult to navigate and require a lot of effort to get the most out of them.
One needs to have a fair amount of patience and time to navigate the options and pick the ones that will meet their health needs. That’s why developers themselves need to strive for ease of use. This can be achieved by creating a product with an intuitive interface, reducing variables, and gaining simplicity in the user-interaction process.
4. Lack of Interoperability
These days, hospitals are increasing their information sharing with other healthcare networks and providers in case of emergencies or when there is a need for documentation or document management. This has become necessary because of the complex nature of healthcare today and because patients may stay at multiple hospitals before they are pronounced fit to travel.
Hence, all the medical records need to be shared among various hospital chains so it will be easier for doctors to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment plans. However, these processes require integration between various healthcare networks and systems. Having established workflows across different institutions can help improve efficiency in the system as well as ensure security.
5. Lack of Collaboration
This can be tricky, but there is certainly no reason why collaboration cannot happen between different healthcare stakeholders. Interoperability is not as simple as it seems, as some organizations are unwilling to share information with their competitors, which is the main obstacle in facilitating inter-hospital communication.
Virtual health platforms provide a solution for this by providing mechanisms for the complete sharing of information, including cases, treatments, etc., and ensure that those who have access to the server have all the required credentials to be able to do so. This can help improve interoperability while ensuring that information remains secure and protected from hacking.
What Does the Future of Virtual Healthcare Look Like?
We can expect to see the virtual healthcare and telehealth market grow as more areas of healthcare, like mental health, continue to adopt virtual care tools.
To withstand in the healthcare industry, reach more people, provide better service, and overcome operational limitations, health systems must adopt virtual healthcare. Second views, consultations, managing chronic diseases, and online monitoring of specific ailments are all areas where virtual healthcare could prove helpful.
Healthcare systems need to move quickly to address the growing need for realistic solutions. That can keep up with the expanding capabilities and widespread usage of virtual healthcare.
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