Geriatric Telemedicine is rapidly becoming an industry leader in the health care industry. Its mission is to help senior citizens live healthy lives, and prevent them from enduring chronic illness. To do this, offer senior communities and low-cost communities with easy-to-use electronic medical devices, advice, and electronic tech-support for patients and caregivers to connect them to their doctors via TeleHealth, family members and friends using convenient digital connectivity, and access to free health tools including online prognosis, appointment reminders, patient education and more… In fact, it is projected that in the next five years, there will be two Americans out of every one hundred who suffer a stroke or a heart attack due to loneliness, depression, or dementia. The advent of advanced technology and the explosion of information on the Internet have made communication even easier between people who may be far apart. But did you know that a senior citizen can also be reached through email by simply typing in his or her name and clicking “send?”
Telehealth has allowed communities to expand their services to include more doctors and health care providers while maintaining patient privacy. For seniors who live alone or in groups, face-to-face visits are sometimes impossible due to financial, transportation, or other constraints. For these citizens, poll monitoring by telehealth professionals is a much more cost-effective alternative to individual or group visits.
Poll monitoring has long been a major concern of health care providers in the United States. With all the flu viruses going around, it is no wonder that the American population has doubled in the last ten years and there are so many seniors out there that it is hard to keep them safe. By allowing telehealth professionals to access a database that includes more than a million names and contact information, a doctor can check up on any senior using just his computer. This not only keeps seniors from the flu and other contagious illnesses, but it also allows health care providers to make better decisions about when to schedule patients back into therapy or when they should transfer someone with a high fever to the hospital.
Since the fall of AIDS and other horrible diseases, people have been growing more concerned about their own health and the health of their families. A majority of adults are convinced that they would never go back to the doctor unless there was a real emergency. The majority also want to feel as confident that they are using competent telemedicine equipment if they need it. Doctors that want to stay current with the latest research and imaging techniques can use the Internet to search for and read the studies on a particular disease or illness. When a poll is done using telemedicine, the data can be viewed immediately. The results can help a doctor make an accurate prognosis or provide more specific advice.
Of course, older adults are not the only ones who can use telehealth services for geriatrics. Many health care providers have found that they can save a great deal of time by using telemedicine to set up appointments with their patients. Some patients simply do not have the ability to make a special trip to see a doctor when a regular office visit could easily take them out of town for a few days. Telemedicine allows a patient’s primary physician to route him or her to the appropriate specialists when possible. If the patient has any concerns about his or her health, he or she can be assured that he or she will receive the best possible care.
As more people look toward telemedicine, many medical professionals are taking it a step further by offering services like webinars and teleseminars. These formats allow older adults to learn about new technologies and get the information that they need to remain properly educated and safe. Webinars are especially useful because they allow doctors to address a large number of topics in a short period of time. Older adults can rest easy knowing that their doctors know more about them than anyone else does. By using telemedicine, health care providers are making sure that older adults are getting the best care possible.