Benefits and drawbacks of eHealth

1. Medical assistance of
remote patients through
Telemedicine : Benefits &
problems
Dr. Shazia Iqbal
Assistant Professor
Director of Medical Education Unit
Faculty of Medicine
Alfarabi College of Medicine, Riyadh
siqbal@alfarabi.edu.sa
View my Linkedin Profile
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4890-5864

2. 2
1
4
5
2
3
What is health care to remote patient
Benefits of eHealth
Disadvantages of eHealth
Use ehealth in health care
Future challenges of eHealth
OBJECTIVES

3. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) uses
digital technologies to collect medical and
other forms of health data from individuals
in one location and electronically transmit
that information securely to health care
providers in a different location for
assessment and recommendations. This
type of service allows a provider to continue
to track healthcare data for a patient once
released to home or a care facility, reducing
readmission rates.
3
Remote Patient Monitoring

4. 4
Monitoring programs can collect a wide range of health data from
the point of care, such as vital signs, weight, blood pressure, blood
sugar, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and electrocardiograms.

5. 5
This data is then transmitted to health professionals in facilities
such as monitoring centers in primary care settings, hospitals and
intensive care units, skilled nursing facilities, and centralized off-
site case management programs. Health professionals monitor
these patients remotely and act on the information received as
part of the treatment plan.

6. 6
The goal of the technology is to reduce costs, provide proactive
care, and simply allow patients to go on with their lives while
tracking their healthcare outcomes.

7. https://youtu.be/dWH6xtKcFio

8. 8
Benefits and
Disadvantages of
telemedicine

9. Benefits for patients
9
• More accessible and equal healthcare
• Increase patient satisfaction
• Less chance of catching infections
• Early diagnosis and treatment
• Time savings
• Increase patient convenience
• Efficacy and accuracy of care
• Enables transparency for the patient

10. Benefits for health care providers
10
• Improved patient monitoring
• Communication and collaboration with other colleagues
• Time saving
• Access to systems with built-in intelligence which help prevent
medical errors and adverse events
• Continuous medical education and training
• Decreased overhead
• Additional revenue stream

11. Disadvantages for patients
11
• Technical problems
• Care delays: When a person needs emergency care,
accessing telemedicine first may delay treatment.
• Insurance coverage: While insurance companies are
increasingly covering the cost of telehealth visits during
the COVID-19 pandemic, some services may not be fully
covered, leading to out-of-pocket costs.
• Protecting medical data: The security of personal health
data transmitted electronically is a concern.

12. Disadvantages for health care providers
12
• Technical problems.
• Doctor’s may have problems to adapt.
• An inability to examine patients.
• Number of wrong diagnoses may increase.
• Job losses.

13. Assisted living visitsFollow-up visits Chronic disease
management
13
Where ehealth is used in health care

14. Follow-up visits
14
Virtual follow-ups and check-ups can be used in place of in-person
visits and even help prevent hospital readmissions. The likelihood
of missed appointments and no-shows also decreases with
telemedicine.

15. Chronic disease management
15
Telemedicine software and mobile health (mHealth) software play
vital roles in the effective management of chronic diseases.
Chronic diseases already take a toll on patients; telemedicine is an
easy and affordable way for patients to actively maintain control
over their health and their relationship with their caregiver.

16. Assisted living visits
16
Telemedicine offsets the need for in-person visits to assisted living
facilities. Doctors and caregivers can remotely visit their patients at
any time of day, and ultimately reduce unnecessary visits to the
hospital.

17. Common and Future
challenges of Ehealth and
Telemedicine
17

18. Common challenges in telemedicine
• Money
• Regulations
• Hype
• Adoption
• Technology
• Evidence
• Success

19. 19
Telemedicine interactions are two types, ether taking place in real-time
such as in video conferences
mobile applications
or require the patient to take action
Educational applications depend on web access of personal computers
(PCs) or smartphones and are widely applied in medicine for distance
learning and information
Such applications will turn out to be particularly useful for primary and
secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease such as (ICDs) benefit
in increase patient safety.
Current situation and future challenges

20. second articlefirst article
2
0
The first article by
Bernhard Wolf explains
the technical background
and the development of
electronic devices
A second article by Ewa
appealing for the use of
telemedicine.
improve physical activity,
healthy nutrition and
smoking cessation with
the final goals of
reducing metabolic risk.

21. Conclusion

22. 22
eHealth and Telemedicine are excellent examples of modern technologies.
They are going to grow quickly and become an important part of today’s
medical care.
An important challenge for those involved with these new technologies will be to keep a focus on
the individual needs of patients and not to be overcome by the enormous speed of technology and
informatics advancement and to continue carefully examining the evidence behind the practice.
Conclusion

23. 23
REFERENCES
• https://www.cchpca.org/about/about-telehealth/remote-patient-monitoring-
rpm
• https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Ministry/nehs/Pages/Benefits-to-
Providers.aspx
• Lee J. Telemedicine 101: History and Evolution [Internet].
Research.g2.com. 2019. Available
from:https://research.g2.com/insights/telemedicine
• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/telemedicine-
benefits#disadvantages
• https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/telehealth-the-advantages-
and-disadvantages
• https://environmental-conscience.com/telemedicine-pros-cons/