What Equipment Is Needed for Telehealth?
Everything You Need to Know About Implementing Telehealth into General Practice
First used in the 1960’s, 'telehealth remote patient monitoring' was created to deliver quality healthcare to remote and rural areas.
With the ongoing pandemic, Telehealth has become more important than ever in delivering medical care, as well as keeping people safe and informed. Telemedicine is a way for most people to get fast contact with a health professional to diagnose and treat their ailments. To do this effectively, medical professionals need the best in Telehealth equipment.
This article will help you understand the benefits, advantages and recent innovations of telemedicine within the healthcare industry. Here's an overview of what we've covered:
- Benefits of Telehealth Equipment
- Advantages of Telehealth
- When to Use Telehealth Equipment
- Setting Up Telemedicine
- Telehealth Equipment Kits
- Telehealth Beyond Covid
Benefits of Telehealth Equipment
Information for Doctors and Healthcare Professionals
When a doctor needs a quick fact check to solidify their diagnosis, telehealth equipment can help health professionals collaborate so they can provide information with each other and show patients they are receiving the quality of care they deserve.
A range of areas and topics GPs should take into consideration, and in some cases learn about when it comes to Telehealth services include:
How to appropriately use telehealth equipment
How to communicate effectively with patients via digital channels such as Zoom
Which treatments, services and assessments are safe to diagnose virtually
How to conduct virtual assessments on a patient without physical contact
How to determine when a face-to-face consultation with a patient is recommended
Managing the privacy and protection of personal information when using electronic communication methods over the internet
Which telehealth services should only be recorded (with patient consent)
You can visit the RACGP website for more information
Information for Patients
Healthcare hubs online can be a great way for patients to access critical information and request virtual medical attention. There are generally two categories that most on-demand telehealth services fall into:
The patient receives virtual medical services from their usual GP or medical practice.
The patient receives virtual medical services by a GP or practice they haven't been to before.
Whether you're visiting your usual GP or a new GP, in most cases online appointments, patients consultations, referrals to specialists, prescriptions, medical certificates and billing are available. The information required when booking in, and your medical history are typically the two areas that will vary if you're visiting a new GP.
Most patients are able to find GPs who deliver on-demand telehealth services through:
- Usual GP or practice staff
- Usual practice’s website
- Internet searches
- Friends, family & word of mouth
For more information, visit the RACGP website, or ask your regular healthcare provider.
Advantages of Telehealth
The ability to provide simple and virtual care for patients all across the country. Particularly in these times when transport and travel are unsafe, telehealth equipment it is paramount for quality healthcare. Whether you're at home, or caring for someone else, a healthcare provider is always available via. phone or online to deliver comprehensive healthcare.
Online video calls can allow patients with specific ailments to get access to the exact kind of doctor they need. Instead of being restricted to specialists within their local area, or having to visit practice after practice in hopes of finding the doctor who can help them, a simple call allows them to get the specific care they need. Similarly, this opens the number of people healthcare practitioners can work with.
Over-the-phone checkups are more convenient for patients, and typically makes them less stressed. As they're less stressed, it means they are more likely to seek help for their healthcare issues and be engaged with their doctors. It's easier for them to reach out to their doctors and they no longer have to travel or take time off for simple questions which can now be addressed remotely.
Healthcare via telecommunication is fast-growing, but it is also relatively new to a lot of people. There is extensive training available for practitioners and specialists when it comes to successfully delivering telehealth. As well as this, healthcare professionals can also access the training, expertise and knowledge from specialists that may have otherwise been too hard to work with because of their geography.
Healthcare history can now be accessed remotely with the rollout of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and platforms such as My Health Record, which allows a patient's primary healthcare provider to access their medical history. The right telehealth equipment not only allows you to engage with your patients, but ensure you can access their records securely and maintain their privacy.
Where patients wants more of a 'face to face' consultation, or their ailment requires more than a phone call - in lieu of a phyiscal checkup, there is specialised equipment available to help both sites. With modern equipment such as the Visionflex ProEx Telehealth Hub Device allow health practitioners to deliver detailed medical examinations to patients in regional or rural areas.
When to Use Telehealth Equipment
Be it at home, a hospital, a simple appointment, or medical practice, the following considerations can help you effectively deliver remote healthcare.
Setting up Telemedicine:
Here's what we recommend in order to setup Telehealth consultations in your Practice:
This is most important for video conferences and virtual phone setups. If you're on the go, make sure your data and telecommunication network can handle calls from your patients who need you in case of an emergency.
Online or over-the-phone visits may not be face to face, but that doesn't mean you can't still make a quality connection. Modern laptops will come with a decent inbuilt webcam and microphone. In some cases, you may decide to supplement inbuilt systems with high-quality microphone so patients can hear you clearly, and understand you well.
For light health-related tasks or quick voice appointments, a tablet or smartphone will serve you just fine.
To understand each other clearly, it can be worth having a quality pair of headphones which can also help reduce background noise.
Telehealth Equipment Kits
One of the most popular pieces of equipment when it comes to Telehealth is the TytoCare telemedicine kit. This allows patients to skip the waiting room with 24/7 access to medical exams, remote physicians, diagnosis and prescriptions. Tyto allows healthcare providers to guide their patients over the phone or through video call on how to do a basic check-up, whether it be ear infections through to the common cold. Similar to TytoCare's telemedicine kit, Debtrek provide the ProEx Telehealth Hub which can be used to do a full-on checkup from the comfort of your home and stream data and diagnostics back to the healthcare worker in real-time.
If you're interested in taking advantage of this wide range of benefits that telehealth equipment offer, we can help meet your telemedicine equipment needs. In addition to specialised telehealth equipment, we provide supporting equipment such as point-of-care carts, mounts for medical equipment, medication management devices and a whole host of IT-related equipment needed to get your organisation’s system up and running.
These carts are essentially mobile computers on wheels combined with your standard medical cart. It's a great tool for diagnosing patients over the phone or on video. It's built to accommodate a variety of medical tools, includes several USB ports, and will come pre-built with everything you need upon arrival.
These hubs index all of the available medical resources for health professionals in one place. It can be accessed from any device, and will connect you to the experts you need at any given moment. The information can be sourced from several medical professionals in the industry, and it's open to updates and corrections at all times through the hub itself.
A computer system that is designed to suit all needs through it's modular design. Being completely customisable, you will be able to have a configuration as small or large as you like knowing you can add equpment as required. These cabinets can accommodate a variety of healthcare needs in hospitals, pharmacies and medical centres.
These economic workstations work great for both healthcare centres through to large hosptials. Our workstations are ergonomic spaces for your healthcare professional needs. Whether you're looking at carts, or medical cabinets - they are packaged with all the necessities needed in a healthcare provider’s office such as computers and diagnostic medical equipment.
Telehealth Beyond Covid
Telehealth has been around for decades, and with recent changes in healthcare due to Covid-19, it has evolved and here to stay. The industry of healthcare through telecommunications, and virtual medical assistance now more than ever, has become a great and important investment for healthcare professionals. As you can see, with a good internet connection and basic equipment such as laptops and smartphones - you can deliver remote healthcare quite easily. However, if you want to deliver even better telehealth services, you can invest in the best telehealth equipment available.
If you're interested in implementing Telehealth Hubs, Telepresence Carts or Telemedicine Cabines and want to partner with an industry leader who can provide you with the supporting IT equipment you need to effectively deliver quality remote healthcare, get in touch with the expert team at Debetrek.