Over the past years, telehealth has gained popularity and has been used more in practice. Telehealth can be easily defined as the use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies in offering patient care services (Linz, Andrzejewski Jr, & Hofmann, (2022). An example of telehealth is the use of virtual visits such as a video chat. Here, a patient and a nurse may video chat where a nurse may ask the patient several health-related questions and a nurse will later educate a patient on some important things that can improve his/her health. A benefit of this approach is that it is convenient and can be done at any time as compared to visiting a health facility. A limitation associated with the approach is that lab tests cannot be ordered because of the difference in locations. As a practitioner, I would not be able to complete a full assessment because there are several things that require a face-to-face interaction but 1 would be able to tackle most of the acute illnesses and follow-ups for patients who require my services.
It is true that collaboration plays an important role in providing care to patients. With telehealth, practitioners can easily assist one another in providing healthcare services. An example is that a nurse practitioner can as for assistance from another practitioner when on a video call with a patient. One important thing is that such responses are timely and they make it easy to provide high-quality healthcare services. To communicate effectively and respectfully with other healthcare professionals, I would learn several aspects of transcultural nursing. I would also try to mostly involve those practitioners with who we have worked. Thus can get rid of most misunderstandings that are there in practice. As explained by Andrews, Steller, & Friedman. (2021), nurse practitioners should always be able to create better working relationships to get rid of mot challenges that can affect patient care. There are several concerns that arise around telehealth. Patient confidentiality is one of the concerns and it is the responsibility of a nurse to always ensure that any information shared is protected. There are also some legal concerns associated with telehealth. Confidentiality is a legal concern that I have with implementing telehealth. I believe that the law should be used in case a nurse practitioner breaches the confidentiality law while using telehealth.
References
Andrews, C. S., Steller, J. V., & Friedman, A. K. (2021). Development of collaborative family nurse practitioner education using physician preceptors: A focused critical ethnographic study. Nurse education today, 107, 105110.
Linz, W., Andrzejewski Jr, C., & Hofmann, J. C. (2022). Apheresis medicine in the era of advanced telehealth technologies: An American Society for Apheresis position paper part II: Principles of apheresis medical practice in a 21st century electronic medical practice environment. Journal of clinical apheresis, 37(1), 122-126.
