Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019, healthcare facilities have been flushed with patients left and right as health issues have consistently risen. Following the massive influx of patients, people often have to endure long commutes and waiting times to receive medical attention.
However, there has been a significant movement toward resolving these issues and inconveniences. With the help of modern technology, telehealth and telemedicine have improved accessibility to doctors and healthcare services by making the process remote and minus the hassle.
But what exactly do telehealth and telemedicine encompass? And what is the difference between telehealth and telemedicine?
What is the Difference Between Telemedicine and Telehealth?
While many may confuse that the terms are interchangeable, the difference between telemedicine and telehealth lies in how they administer health care via existing medical technologies.
The main difference between the two is that telemedicine uses various telecommunication technologies and methods to deliver a consultation or short-term treatment for a patient. In contrast, telehealth provides a long-term treatment plan using telemedicine to care for and improve a patient’s health.
Patients living in a highly-populated and fast-paced city can avoid traveling to the clinic, sitting through long hours of traffic and extended waiting room times, and taking leaves or rescheduling work.
Those living in rural areas or distant regions also benefit from telehealth and telemedicine because they eradicate the difficulty of traveling long distances to see a doctor and resolve the issue of limited access to medical specialists.
| Telemedicine | Telehealth | |
| Definition | Short-term Treatment | Long-term Treatment |
| Benefits |
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| Related Products | Telemedicine Carts | Vital Sign Kiosk |
What does Telemedicine Entail?
In other words, the difference between telemedicine and telehealth is that telemedicine is a more specific and focused scope than that of telehealth. Doctors and physicians can deliver medical services remotely through telecommunications technologies, such as Tele-care, Tele-surgery, Tele-education, Tele-consultation, Tele-monitoring, and Tele-prescription.
Telemedicine is frequently used to communicate diagnoses, consultations, and short-term treatments. Since the pandemic, it has become a widespread option that ensures patients receive quality healthcare services quickly and remotely.
Telemedicine benefits:
- Reduced Exposure to Pathogens: Since telemedicine removes face-to-face interaction between medical professionals and their patients, it minimizes the transfer of diseases through pathogens.
- Instant Medical Services and Consultations: Telemedicine offers patients instant medical services, consultation, and flexible clinic times through virtual clinic meetings, improving the accessibility of healthcare to an array of patients.
Telemedicine example:
A good example would be the incorporation of telemedicine carts in Taiwanese hospitals. Telemedicine carts are practical choices in Taiwanese healthcare because they can be easily deployed and have high flexibility and mobility.
These portable wireless carts allow doctors to efficiently set up isolation wards, protect patient information using the hospital’s private cloud, and integrate selected devices for centralized data collection
For example, isolation wards can reduce foot traffic and lower the risk of contamination. Teleconsultation offers instant retrieval of patient data for a new way of virtual consultation, and remote teaching provides real-time 4K videos to provide accurate education materials.
What does Telehealth Entail?
While telemedicine is suitable for short-term treatments, telehealth is ideal for providing long-term treatments using the means of telemedicine. In other words, because telehealth factors in time, it is suitable for treating chronic diseases, as they cannot be cured with a single treatment.
Telehealth benefits:
- Regular health monitoring: For starters,it helps medical workers better manage patients with chronic conditions. Patients with high-dependency-care receive a more secure and regular path to medical treatment.
- Long-term high-mobility health checkups: This is a game changer, especially for patients with disabilities or mobility challenges, because they have a safer and easier way to receive care and medical checkups that may be crucial to keeping their chronic disease in check. By minimizing the barriers of access to medical appointments, doctors can give these patients regular checkups while they remain safely in their home.
Telehealth example:
In Thonburi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, the implementation of telehealth in the form of vital sign kiosks has streamlined the vital signs measuring workflow into three simple steps and connected personal, community, and hospital with PHR.
The hospital could provide personalized health management with the help of visualization of vital sign data analysis in the hospital’s cloud. Moreover, the intelligent integration of vital sign detectors effectively reduces the workload of measuring vital signs in patients.
Most importantly, vital sign kiosks are patient-centered and enhance a patient’s waiting experience before seeing a doctor. The adoption of vital sign kiosks has helped Thonburi Hospital provide more holistic health care.
Exclusive Telehealth Solution for General Hospitals
Now that we have established a clearer understanding of the difference between telemedicine and telehealth, we can delve into an all-in-one telehealth solution for general hospitals.
As a means to reduce Covid infections, telemedicine consultations between clinicians and patients have become widely popular. imedtac’s telehealth solution integrates patient information, video, and vital signs data into one single platform, making it more convenient to have virtual consultations with specialists and provide timely and personalized care to patients.
imedtac’s telehealth solution has four major advantages that set it apart from others in the market:
- High flexibility & mobility
It is wireless, portable, and setup-friendly. Its high flexibility and mobility allow it to be moved to areas without wireless connections.
- Support Video/Audio conference
It supports a 1080p or HD camera with a built-in audio system, making it easier for quarantined patients to communicate with their caretakers from their unit.
- Medical grade
Imedtac’s equipment supports medical-grade nursing carts and can be disinfected with 75% alcohol.
- Compatible with vital sign monitoring devices
It can be integrated with various devices and connected to a private cloud to secure patient information.
Looking for more healthcare solutions? Contact imedtac today to let us introduce telemedicine and telehealth workflow for your smart hospital!
Related telehealth article: IoMT Technology Automates Vital Signs Measurement
Related telehealth article: What is Digital Health and What Can It Do for Rural Areas?
