1. By Carolyn Paduano RN, BSN
Nursing 509

2. What is Telemedicine?
 “Telemedicine is the use of medical
information exchanged from one site to
another via electronic communications to
improve a patient’s clinical health status.
Telemedicine includes a growing variety of
applications and services using two-way
video, email, smart phones, wireless tools and
other forms of telecommunications
technology.”
American Telemedicine Association (2012)

3. Benefits
 Allows for better access to health care and services
 Helps improve professional education
 Reduces health care costs
 Improves patient care

4. How Does it Work?
Allows for the technological exchange of medical information
between health care professionals and patients from a distance

5. What it Does
 Permits health care professionals to get more involved with care
even when they are not presently with the patient
 Empowers patients and allows them to have some control over
health care decisions and treatment plans
 Make decisions in a timely manner when critical situations arise
 Improves access between various health professionals and
promotes interdisciplinary team work
 Helps reduce medical cost by allowing for better quality of care
which will result in fewer hospital admissions.

6. What Are the Negatives?
 People relying too much on technology
 Individuals forget how to interact with each
other
 Information can be breached causing violation
of patients’ private information.
 Lack of patient-nurse or patient-doctor
relationship
 Causes health professionals to feel “burnt out”
by being available 24/7 to patients

7. Examples
 Helps students in the healthcare field learn
 Helps other health care professionals learn
from various locations

8. Examples
 Installing equipment in the house
 Monitor patients’ vitals
 Allows for home-bound patients to be able to
interact with health care professionals

9. Examples
 For health care
professionals that
cannot make it to the
patients on time
 For other health care
professionals that are
not in the same location

10. Telemedicine
continues to
advance and allow
patients to have the
quality care they
deserve.

11. References
 American Telemedicine Association. (2012). What is telemedicine? Retrieved from
http://www.americantelemed.org/about-telemedicine/what-is-telemedicine#.
VE_-TL64n6Z
 California Telehealth Resource Center. (2014) Telehealth. Retrieved from
http://www.caltrc.org/telehealth/telehealth-facts/
 DGTelemed. (2014). Telemedicine: Examples of telemedicine. Retrieved from
http://www.dgtelemed.de/de/telemedizin/anwendungsbeispiele.php
 Hjelm, N.M. (2005). Benefits and drawbacks of telemedicine. Journal of
Telemedicine and Telecare, 11, p. 60-70. http:/
telemedicina6.unifesp.br/set/curso/2006-06-19-pgsaude/
Fundamental_BenefitsandDrawbacksofTelemedicine.pdf