Around the globe, the advent of large-scale technology implementation in health care has begun. The terms telemedicine and telehealth are spreading across the globe as fast as the satellite communications systems can transmit them. Telemedicine has reached around the world and has helped to link all peoples together in the struggle to understand and treat disease and promote health. Telemedicine is not just a single technology. It is part of a greater process, and it has spawned the creation of a chain of care unlike any in history (Roine, Ohinmaa & Hailey, 2001). New health information technologies are introducing the world to the value of knowledge in the promotion of health and prevention of disease (Coile, 2000). Telemedicine has experienced a steady growth over the past decade as telecommunication technology has advanced and as costs have declined (Wooten, 2001). Patient care, medical research, medical education, and the administration of health services are beginning to undergo revolutionary changes as information technologies advance (Wallace, 2001). .
This paper is a discussion of the global trends related to telemedicine, the numerous impacts of telemedicine on the practice of nursing, both now and in the future, and the response that the nursing profession may choose to take to this new technology. A discussion regarding the role of nursing theory and how it might evolve with telemedicine is also included.
Definition.
Currently there is no universally accepted definition of telemedicine. Various authorities have developed definitions, and these in, in turn, have been adopted by researchers and authors throughout the literature. Telemedicine is broadly defined as the provision of health care services across some distance (Greenberg, 2000). More recently, telemedicine has been defined by the specific elements of service that are provided. Ashley (2002) defines telemedicine as "the practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of medical data, and education using interactive audio, video, or data communication.
For example, in 1994, the MPT launched a $50 million three-year pilot project to assess the feasibility of integrating telecommunications and broadcast services, such as video on demand, high definition television, videoconferencing, teleshopping and telemedicine through fiber-to-the-home networks. ... Telemedicine was to replace referral of patients to specialists. ...
LifeBot 5 is a relatively new telemedicine development on a low end usage. It started being used and tested for the first time in 2008. It was developed by the company LifeBot LLC, and uses an operating and database system called LifeBot Dreams which was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense thro...
Telemedicine employs communications network to transport and display medical images and data. ... For example, telemedicine applications enable hospital specialists to conduct diagnostic procedures, such as X-rays and heart palpation, on remote patients by using special devices at the local doctor's office to collect and transfer patient information. ...
The DSA, in providing for the licensing and regulation of Certification Authorities, attempts to cater for the rising need for transacting parties over the Internet to ascertain each other's identities and the integrity of the messages. A further effect of this Act is to make a digital signature as ...
The Tragedy of Rape: Putting Faces to Numbers In the article, "The Possibilities and Limits of Telemedicine: Self-Treatment at the South Pole," Sara Taub and Kayhan Parsi begin by stating, "it has been said that the death of one person is a tragedy whereas the death of a million is a statistic." ...
Now internet is used for distance learning, telemedicine, online shopping, marketing, entertainment and many other fields. ... Computers are used in Education, Entertainment, Marketing, Telemedicine, Communication, Robotics, Online shopping and many other fields. ...
Among them: better crisis management through videoconferencing that would put workers at the scene in instant contact with experts, telemedicine that can save patients from a distance, and more sophisticated education for rural schools that lack the Internet capacity for multimedia and instantaneous two way interactions."13 I agree with the quote in the previous paragraph, because it is true. ...
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