More than ever people are focusing on their health, looking after themselves any way they can. Hospitals being over run and complicated to get into. Within these times people needed a way to communicate with a doctor without having to worry about getting into the hospital. Telehealth has been around for many years, but recently it has skyrocketed in acknowledgment and in users who swear by it. Video calls were at an all time high over COVID, it made sense that Telehealth, a way of visiting the doctors without leaving your home, was a popular way to get medical help. A relaxed and more suitable way for most people to see a doctor or their GP.
Telehealth Rundown
Telehealth is a way for people to visit the doctors. Virtually. Communicate to your doctor through electronic devices – phone, laptop or tablet. It can be a call, video call or message. Video calling wasn’t just used for business conferencing during 2020 as Telehealth had its peak usage. To some it may seem a hazardous solution, but for others it gives them the freedom to stay healthy both mentally and physically anytime, anywhere.
Imagine living on the outskirts of a town or a city, miles away from a hospital or a doctors office and you have a concern about your health. But know that travelling to the hospital isn’t an option. With Telehealth you can calm any medical worries through a phone or video call. A lot of Telehealth services will run through an application. Making it super simply to use and all your health data and records will be stored safely within the app. Giving you easy access to your records and your past history of using Telehealth. So if any problems do occur and you cant get to a doctor at that moment, you can go back through your records and Telehealth history via the app. With this you could find a reason to your medical worry – perfect for long term medical conditions. Not only that but to aid your Telehealth experience, vital monitoring devices can be bought to monitor your health throughout the day. These devices will then store your health data for you to view. Letting you not only view the data but you can share the data with your doctor during a video call.
How Does Telehealth Work?
Some of you may be reading this thinking, well if I have a long term medical condition how are they going to be taking my vitals if we are miles apart? But the Telehealth world has already thought this through. Alongside phone calls, a video call is probably the best way to meeting with your doctor. Not only can you discuss your medical worry, but you can show any signs of medical concern on your body. With those devices we mentioned, such as the Remote Vital Monitoring Device, doctors can give a full examination as they normally would but this time just through a screen. This Remote Vital Device works by checking a patients vitals during a call, or throughout your day.
So if you suffer from diabetes for example and need to keep an eye on your glucose levels. You can purchase wearable devices that monitor your glucose levels throughout the day. Taking Telehealth even further, watches are becoming more and more advanced. They’re not just their to tell you the time anymore. You can connect your Remote Vital Monitoring Device to your watch to keep you updated every few minutes. Your health in the palm of your hands.
Remote Vital Monitoring Devices
This topic needs to be dived into a little bit more. Telehealth isn’t just phone, video calls and messaging. There are many devices people can wear or have in their home to check their vitals, without a trip to the doctors. Referring back to having long term medical conditions, with Dexcom your can monitor your glucose levels at home and in real-time. With the use of Clarity, the Dexcom device tracks your glucose levels and secures them in an app. Clarity is a management software that stores your data safely. You can buy Dexcom’s G6 Starter Kit, made up of glucose transmitters and the sensors. You will have to wear the transmitter, by applying it to your arm or stomach with the sensor. Once that is applied you can track your glucose levels throughout you day. Plus, as we said before, you can connect the transmitter to your phone, smartwatch or to a monitoring device.
So going back to the situation before. You have a worry and cant make it to any professional. You can easily check you health throughout your day that could help you come to a solution to your worry. Also a great thing about the Dexcom device is that it will send you alerts when your glucose level is too high. Not only keeping your health in check but letting you live out your day without having to use finger sticks to check your levels.
BioButton
Another Telehealth device to keep track of your health throughout the day is the BioButton. If you are just generally trying to look after your health or have a long term health issue, the ‘coin-sized’ BioButton can give you peace of mind. Designed to ‘wear and forget’, this small stick on device can track your health vitals through out 30 days of wear. The device continuously tracks your temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate. And just like the Dexcom, the BioButton has a dedicated app for you to store and log your health data. Plus, making your health monitoring device even better, the BioButton has a dedicated cloud portal – the BioCloud. A place where your data from the BioButton can be used to detect any physiological changes in your health. Sending you a electronical report.
Another advantage of the BioButton is the BioMobile. If one day you are feeling a bit under the weather and have a few symptoms that may concern you. You can chat with a coversational AI with BioMobile. Type in your queries and the AI will ask questions suitable to your queries or symptoms. A quick way for you to ease your mind and figure out if your condition is serious or mild.
Benefits
Through the recent years video conferencing platforms have massively helped us with day to day life. Telehealth is just another way video conferencing platforms are helping us. Whether you suffer from a long term condition or just need your mind to be eased, Telehealth can suit everyone. You can easily pick up your phone and book a video call appointment with your doctor. Plus, Telehealth is pretty much a on the go service. If you are out and about doing your daily tasks and start to feel unwell. You could easily talk with your doctor over a video call in your car to find a solution to your problem. Or if a doctor is busy and cant be reached. You can still arrange an appointment that suits you.
As we said, Telehealth isn’t just talking with a doctor over the phone Telehealth can be small devices that people with long term illnesses wear to track their health. These little devices can generally save lives or prevent any situation from escalating. As the BioButton monitors your health vitals throughout the day. Alerting you if anything peaks or lows too much. This little device can also acknowledge COVID-19 symptoms in a person before you may have even thought about doing a test.
Disadvantages
With everything there are disadvantages next to the benefits. A main disadvantage with Telehealth is security. Your health records and data is private and should stay that way. With 54% of people admitting that some clinics will use Zoom, Facebook Messenger, Facetime and WhatsApp to conduct their Telehealth services. And even though, like we said, video conferencing platforms have supported us through the last few years. Having a secure and safe way to talk to professionals and keep your data private is something that needs to be a main focus with Telehealth.
Another fault in Telehealth is that if you rely on the service too much, other illnesses and issues can go unnoticed. Yes, you are technically seeing a doctor. But sometimes actually going to see your doctor can be more beneficial to you then talking to them through a screen. It allows the doctor to fully examine the patient alongside checking their vitals. Using Telehealth to talk to your doctor is great every once in a while, but using it as your ‘hospital’ almost. Isn’t the best way to look after your health. Another reason to not rely on Telehealth too much is that you could almost become a little bit obsessed with checking your health through the data tracking. Not only making you bit obsessed with checking the app but this can put a strain on your mental health. As you are always worried or paranoid.
Will Telehealth Be The Future?
Well Telehealth is a great tool, especially during COVID, for obvious reasons. But as for Telehealth being the future, there are pro and cons. From all this information, Telehealth needs to be clear on what their goal is. Is it trying to take over seeing your general doctor in general or is it trying to be an add on feature to help healthcare professionals. Telehealth services need to focus on their security and how they store their patients data. However, even though it seems that Telehealth has still got a bit to go. The future of Telehealth could be amazing.
Just think, with the new technology being introduced in the world, Telehealth could really thrive. With things like holograms and holoportation now coming to life, Telehealth can take advantage of this technology and improve how doctors communicate with their patients. Letting patients holoportate into the doctors office for a full body examination. And with 56% of UK patients claiming that they would use Telehealth mobile applications in the future after trying them on COVID. Shows that a improvement in technology, like the Metaverse. Could help telehealth gain more attention and potential users.





