Quality Improvement Essay

Nursing     

Virtual Care and Telehealth Technologies

Virtual care is a process where patients can consult clinicians using communication technology whereby specialists can monitor patients’ conditions from remote locations (El-Miedany, 2017). It, therefore, employs the use of virtual technology and telecommunications in delivering health services. Despite rapid development in the telemedicine industry, we consider a number of advantages as well as disadvantages attached to telehealth technologies. 

Advantages of Virtual Care and Telehealth Care

           The introduction of virtual care has reduced transportation costs since the number of visits to health facilities has declined. This has relieved patients and health practitioners transport burden to access and deliver health services. Also, there are minimal chances of contracting new infections as patients’ access health services from home, thus, reducing interaction with other patients which could otherwise lead to contracting new diseases. Health professionals can also give guidance to health care workers and patients in remote areas without necessarily traveling.

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Virtual care has improved the process of monitoring and treatment of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cancer and vulnerable groups comprising of elders, expectant mothers, and infants. According to Cook (2016), telehealth technologies such as eHealth, has aided training by equipping health practitioners with knowledge on different aspects of health care. There is also reduced congestion in health facilities thus reducing operational cost and enhancing better services through flexibility. 

Disadvantages of Virtual Care and Telehealth Technologies

Despite being optimistic about telehealth potential, there are still concerns about the implementation of service delivery due to various reasons. Telehealth is still technologically restricted due to the malfunctioning of the devices and network disconnection, thus, hindering effective service delivery. In order to provide virtual care services, it requires health practitioners to undergo additional training which is costly, as well as, time-consuming. Industry and regulatory barriers are also other challenges hindering delivering health care services. This is because different states have different rules and regulations controlling the licensing of telemedicine service delivery. Telehealth technologies offer limited physical examination as virtual care is restricted to only illnesses that do not require in-depth examination and treatment (Cook, 2016). Another limitation of Telehealth care is that it can lead to erratic treatment due to the continuous change of health physicians by patients as new health practitioners will lack the patient’s health background. 

Role of Advanced Registered Nurse

Advance Registered Nurses are given advanced training meaning, they are equipped with more knowledge which enables them to participate in decision-making and research studies (Garber & Chike-Harris, 2019). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they primarily examine patients and offer special health services such as testing and interpreting lab results. Also, they evaluate patients’ progress and maintain their health records in compliance with privacy policies. ARNs offer counseling to patients and families as well as referring them to other treatments.