Home » Can Telehealth Address The Nursing Shortage Caused By COVID19?

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Can Telehealth Address The Nursing Shortage Caused By COVID19?

The Ins and Outs of Telehealth

Telehealth nursing can be a primary need for the general populace, Covid19 patients, and healthcare providers. Telehealth comes in handy during quarantine, allowing patients to seek recommendations from their healthcare providers in real-time. Telehealth nurses come from various settings and use advanced technology such as web cameras, telephone lines, the internet, and VOIP to discharge care remotely.

What is a Telehealth Nurse?

A telehealth nurse is an RN who uses telecommunication technology to offer patients high-quality care. Patients who require specialized care but cannot access experts will benefit from this approach.

Often, telehealth nurses assist patients with minor health complications. Telehealth nursing is beneficial both to the healthcare system and the patients. The American Telehealth Association opines that this process helps provide nursing care remotely to enhance efficiency and allow patients to access health care with ease.

How do nurses feel about telehealth?

Focusing on countrywide nursing shortages is crucial. Without proper action, the prevailing nurses will work under untold stress, compromising the quality of care and triggering the loss of patient lives. Over 500,000 seasoned registered nurses will retire by 2022. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US estimates the need for more than a million RNs to replace retirees and loosen up the nursing crisis.

Telehealth lessens the nursing shortage

This technology is helping reduce the frustration of the prevailing nursing shortage in various ways. According to recent American Hospital Association studies, telehealth is crucial for patients. Up to 70% of patients said they were comfortable interacting with healthcare service providers through email, text, or video.

Telehealth nursing has numerous benefits for the healthcare sector. It minimizes healthcare expenses through the reduction of hospital admissions and visits to the emergency department. It’s also an essential tool for managing chronic ailments and enhances the use of nurses across hospital departments.

What are the pros of telehealth in nursing?

  • Nurses can practice telehealth from the comfort of their homes, and it allows them to interact with patients without having to travel, register, and waiting in a queue. Telehealth is also helping improve the nursing shortage by:
  • Enabling nurses to educate and support patients in a defined approach with precise results through the use of telehealth platforms
  • Telehealth nurses can learn about advanced medicine therapies without being confined in one department every day.
  • Telehealth nurses are more accessible, enabling them to serve more patients.
    More attention reduced costs and enhanced care
  • Telehealth eases the effects of the nursing shortage triggered by Covid 19. The technology offers easy access to experts for patients. Nurses can focus on offering better patient care and comfort without the confinement of on-site appointments.
  • American Telemedicine Association says that patients can receive 50% of all healthcare services in less than five years. This action helps balance for people with 1.1 million new registered nurses. Offering support and guidance to patients is the crucial role of nurses.

Telehealth is currently proving its ability to boost patient access.

Understanding potential uses of telehealth amid the pandemic.

Telehealth services can provide public health mitigation procedures in the face of the ongoing pandemic by promoting social distancing. These services are ideal for both patients and health care professionals to help reduce possible infectious risks. They can reduce the increasing patient demand on facilities and cut down the use of personal protective equipment by healthcare professionals to reduce pressure on healthcare systems.

Accessing healthcare services remotely may boost participation for socially and medically vulnerable people who lack easy access to healthcare providers. Remote access also helps conserve the provider-patient relationship when a physical visit to the healthcare facility is non-practical.

Telehealth services are can:

  • Help with screening patients who may have Covid-19 related symptoms
  • Provide support and coaching for patients dealing with chronic health conditions and training them on how to avoid contracting Covid-19
  • Offer urgent low-risk care for Covid-19 conditions, identify people who may require further medical assessment or consultation, and refer accordingly.
  • Participate in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and other processes
  • Monitor patient progress after hospitalization

Conclusion

Telehealth nurses have various job responsibilities based on their specialty and job location. These include planning appointments and patent referral to experts and ensuring patients understand various methods of managing their symptoms.