Peer Responses:
Length: A minimum of 150 words per post, not including references
Citations need to be within 5 (Five) years
Context: Nursing in the USA
See the attached for the original assignment
T5 W8 D1 R1
When discussing the topic of telehealth, there are a myriad of ways in which telehealth can be utilized, not only across the nation but across the globe. As I have relayed in previous discussions, I have had the opportunity to witness the benefits of telehealth in my own personal practice as a registered nurse in the emergency department, such as utilizing a tele-neuro web camera computer to communicate with and assist a distant neurologist with the assessment of a patient exhibiting stroke-like symptoms.
An example of utilizing telehealth on a global scale is interestingly described in an article written by a general pediatrician in Missouri by the name of Dr. Hugh Bigg. Although Dr. Biggs primary practice is in Missouri, he volunteers his free time for Connecting Kids With Care, a volunteer telehealth program that pairs US physicians with preadoptive children on the other side of the world (Bigg, 2018, p. 1). With the use of technology, Dr. Bigg assists potential adoptive families by assessing the medical files of children across the globe and addressing their various medical conditions and health care needs in order to recommend a course of treatment for them (Bigg, 2018). Due to the widespread capabilities of technology, Dr. Bigg is able to assess a childs current health status, diagnosis and prognosis who lives in another country simply by accessing his computer from any location. Without modern technology, this practice would not be feasible.
An inevitable obstacle created by the use of telehealth is that Dr. Bigg is unable to conduct his own in-person assessment of each child, as he is only able to work with the limited information presented to him in each childs medical file. Dr. Bigg (2018) states: Although the information I receive is sometimes incomplete or unclear, I see it as my role to make sense of the data and communicate it in an organized fashion for a family or future primary care provider (p. 2). Consequently, Dr. Bigg must overcome this obstacle by providing the best assessment and recommended course of treatment for these children to the best of his ability.
Reference:
Bigg, H. (2018). How I found my calling as a volunteer: Joining a global telehealth program can profoundly change a childs life and yours! Contemporary Pediatrics, 35(10), 1-4.
