Telemedicine can help seniors remain at home while maintaining high-quality care. The telehealth and remote medicine field has grown immensely over the past few years, with an estimated value of $36.2 billion in 2020. Improved affordability and accessibility of telemedicine are partly responsible for the growth. The remote nature of telemedicine also offers many options for making caregiving easier for elders. If you want to provide your loved ones with quality in-home care, telemedicine can help.
What Is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is the practice of caring for patients through electronic, remote methods. Several types of telemedicine are available.
- Synchronous telemedicine allows real-time communication between a patient and a provider. Video-conferencing is one example of synchronous telemedicine.
- Asynchronous telemedicine, also known as “store-and-forward,” involves having health information stored and forwarded to the caregiver, via email or other method.
- Remote patient monitoring refers to remotely tracking and collecting health data on a patient, such as vital signs, heart rate, and more using cameras, sensors, and other devices.
Telemedicine covers a broad range of methods and can help your senior loved one in a variety of ways.
Three Ways Telemedicine Can Help Seniors Remain At Home
Telemedicine is a convenient benefit to seniors and their family. Neighborly Home Care discusses 3 ways that the practice can help your senior remain at home.
1. Transportation
Telemedicine helps seniors remain at home by making transportation less necessary. Seniors often need more frequent hospital or doctor’s office visits, which can be difficult for family members to arrange around work schedules. Caregiver agencies such as Neighborly Home Care can provide safe transportation when in person visits are necessary, but if the senior can see the doctor from home, they are more likely to get the regular care they need. Especially for seniors who live in more rural areas, travel to the doctor can be costly and they may lack people who are able to transport them. Telemedicine can reduce costs and time spent traveling, which can be hard on seniors as well.
2. Access
Telemedicine can help seniors at home by giving them easier access to their doctors. A senior most often speaks to doctors during appointments. So if a patient has any questions or concerns regarding their health, they can use telemedicine technologies such as a web-portals or apps instead of waiting for a doctor’s visit. In addition, many seniors require regular medication to treat serious health conditions. Some of these prescriptions require checkups before they can be refilled. Seniors may choose to forego necessary refills in order to avoid traveling to the doctor. Telemedicine can allow them to meet their doctors online for these visits so they can get their refills.
3. Communication
Telemedicine can also improve communication. You can stay in touch and informed about the care of your elderly family members who may live far away through telemedicine. The information from the visit can be sent to you. Additionally, if the senior has a caregiver who can be present during the telemedicine visit, the caregiver can ask questions and take notes to further clarify what happened at the visit.
Neighborly Home Care Provides Quality, Compassionate In-Home Care
Telemedicine can help seniors through electronic means, and Neighborly Home Care helps seniors by providing compassionate, high-quality caregiving solutions. For over 25 years, we have offered a range of diverse, comprehensive caregiving services to elderly residents in the local communities surrounding Ardmore, PA and Wilmington, DE. Some of our services include disability care, transportation services, and respite care. Our staff of professional, highly qualified caregivers is devoted to providing your elderly loved ones with care and companionship. Contact us today to learn more about our elder care services.