Current Information and Communication Technologies: Telemedicine - Essay Example

"Current Information and Communication Technologies: Telemedicine" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system.
Perhaps if there is one information and communication technology in the cardiovascular ICU that tremendously aids in the intensity of care, it would be telemedicine.  Telemedicine allows the possibility of care from an intensivist even if both the patient and health care provider/s are in remote areas or separated by geographical location.  Care and monitoring are facilitated by information technology and increases the presence of intensivists through the provision of direct intensivist input even if the health care provider is not immediately available at the bedside of the patient.  This technology also uses “intelligent algorithms to monitor physiological and laboratory data, identify concerning trends or results and reduce errors that could result in adverse outcomes” (Morrow et al., 2012 pg. 6).

The need for telemedicine has increased recently due to major changes in healthcare that significantly change the quality of critical care in the landscape of medicine (SCCM Tele-ICU Committee, nd).  One of these major changes is the need for innovative models to address the imbalance between the demand and supply for intensive care.  The current intensivist population far outstrip the supply by five to sixfold and this has made telemedicine more relevant in filling the gap between the actual need and supply for intensive care.  In addition to filling the heightened need for intensivists, the increasing cost in health care has also contributed to the increased use of telemedicine in intensive care. 

The use of telemedicine in ICU composed of networks of audiovisual communication and computer systems that link intensivists to ICUs.  These networks of audiovisual communication and computer systems served as a tool that improves the quality, efficacy, and safety of patient care at a lesser cost.  The use of telemedicine in intensive care has the distinct advantage of bridging the barriers of time and distance to attend to provide to the patient’s broad range of clinical expertise through oversight of evidenced-based care utilizing multidisciplinary teams that includes nurses (SCCM Tele-ICU Committee, nd). 

With regard to the impact of telemedicine’s use in intensive care, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine conducted a 16-week trial of 24-hour remote ICU care and their investigation showed that the severity and mortality of ICU and hospitality mortality rates decreased by 60% and 30% respectively compared to the same16-week period in the prior year.  These findings have established that the use of telemedicine is effective in remote intensive care delivery with outcomes that are far better than the standard care given in ICUs. 

The typical barriers associated with the use of telemedicine cost in setting up, technical and logistical challenges, cultural and organizational resistance is slowly being overcome by “government buy-in and support and support for tele-ICU with funding, demonstration projects, and passage of bills (The Patient-Focused Critical Care Enhancement Act – HR 1581, Addendum) (SCCM Tele-ICU Committee, nd), technology integration, and cultural acceptance by health care providers.   SCCM Tele-ICU Committee suggested that to effectively implement telemedicine in a healthcare organization, its use must be included in the vision and direction of the leadership in such organization with a realistic assessment of the technological readiness not only in terms of provider’s infrastructure but also on the cultural readiness of its staff.