Telemedicine: Its Effects on Health Communication

Abstract

This article analyzes telemedicine, the use of distant communication technologies within the context of clinical health care, and the effects it has on health communication. The main effect is that telemedicine has the capacity to substantially transform health care in both positive and negative ways and to radically modify personal face-to-face communication (Turner, 2003). This has tremendous implications for health communication scholars in that they can extend the telemedicine debate by integrating fresh insights into more acceptable approaches that will refine and humanize mediated channels of health communication. There are several key areas of telemedicine that need to be discussed (i.e., e-health services, clinical encounters, etc.), all of which are identified in this article. In addition to describing the past and current applications of telemedicine, this article provides a better understanding of unique needs, resources, problems, and opportunities germane to telemedicine services.

Opportunities and Challenges of Telemedicine: Observations from the Wild West in Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes

“…The lack of face-to-face contact, which may affect the doctor-patient relationship, may be a detraction from universal enthusiasm for telemedicine visits by both providers and patients. 16 Finally, evolving reimbursement models to emphasize valuebased instead of volume-based care may favor the adoption of telemedicine in ambulatory settings. 9 In the study by Wood et al, 5 Wyoming Medicaid and other insurance programs reimbursed the telemedicine visits, but there are no unequivocal reimbursement systems in place, suggesting a need for future studies to evaluate their cost-effectiveness.…”

ACCF 2012 Health Policy Statement on Patient-Centered Care in Cardiovascular Medicine

“…This has positive downstream effects, with studies showing higher measures of trust and satisfaction among patients and medical practitioners when communication quality is enhanced (53)(54)(55)(56). Having access to various methods of content delivery (e.g., pamphlet, online, library, organized programs, or group education sessions) facilitates accommodation of different learning styles, cultural realities, and socioeconomic status of patient subgroups (16).…”

The Practice: An Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Training of Health Care Participants through Innovative Technology

“…Matusitz and Breen (2007) defined telemedicine as ''the use of distant communication technologies within the context of clinical health care, and the effects it has on health communication' ' (p. 73). This includes applications such as multimedia systems including televisions, telephone, fax, interactive video conferencing, email, or web based information computers and video cameras.…”