Discussion: Limited Access to Healthcare

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Table of Contents

Summary
Annotated Bibliography
Learnings from The Research
References

Summary

Patients requiring medical attention face many various challenges trying to access it. For instance, barriers to accessing medical care include geographic location, availability of a medical provider, mobility, and transport issues. With the global technological advancements, health care is easily accessible through health information online, telemedicine, and in-home health care services. The interventions will help solve access challenges caused by financial constraints, transport, and geographical location, while addressing mobility as well. With the Internet having comprehensive coverage, many individuals, even in rural areas, can gain information on health from online platforms.

As a medical practitioner, I am responsible for providing medical healthcare to all individuals. I cannot reach each person at their home, and not all of the patients can access a medical facility. Consequently, many patients consume information and self-medicate online via their Internet connection. Therefore, it is critical that the information online is peer-reviewed, easily accessible, and credible, as misdiagnosing can result in devastating consequences. I have developed a keen interest in eHealth and telemedicine. I have accessed Capella University library databases to find peer-reviewed articles from PubMed Central and ProQuest search engines. I used the keywords online health information seeking, healthcare access, health information systems, telemedicine, and rural nursing.

I selected sources from peer-reviewed journals authored by health care experts with extensive professional experience in the medical field to ensure credibility. I confirmed that the articles contained accepted information and opinions on healthcare access, affirming that the chosen information sources were relevant to the topic. Furthermore, I ensure that each source contains a clearly defined purpose for access to healthcare.

Annotated Bibliography

Barnard-Kelly, K. (2019). Utilizing eHealth and Telemedicine Technologies to Enhance Access and Quality of Consultations: It’s Not What You Say, It’s the Way You Say It. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, 21(S2), S2-41. Web.

The article deals with the growing diabetes epidemic and the strained health resources, which cause need for innovative treatment such as eHealth. The author names several communication theories which touch upon interactions of doctors and patients, such as Dyadic interpersonal communication model for consultations or Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory for therapeutic process. The author then lists the factors influencing the adoption of new technology, such as reducing patient burden, addressing therapeutic inertia etc. The article’s most representative example of modern eHealth tools is the KALMOD, which helps identify the ailment and status via a brief decision-based questionnaire. The author concludes that large technology companies will bring digitization of healthcare, making patients with diabetes equal partners rather than recipients of healthcare. The article is included in the Bibliography because, while it is dedicated to diabetes specifically, the tendencies displayed in it may be extrapolated onto other cases as well.

Bitar, H., & Alismail, S. (2021). The role of eHealth, telehealth, and telemedicine for chronic disease patients during COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid systematic review. Digital Health. 7, 1–19. Web.

This article examines the expert opinions, recommendations, and evidence linked to using electronic health and telemedicine to provide medical care for chronic patients during the Corona pandemic. The authors searched four databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science Core Collection) to conduct a literature review on the implementation of telehealth. All reviewed literature indicated potential in ehealth and telehealth solutions in delivering medical services to patients living with chronic illnesses during the pandemic. One of the most important parts of the discussion is that developing infrastructre is key to improving the healthcare system. The authors conclude that telemedicine allows practitioners to continue providing the needed medical care to chronically ill patients during the corona pandemic. This article is relevant as it demonstrates how telemedicine makes healthcare service delivery possible, even with restricted movement. Consequently, telemedicine makes healthcare accessible to all individuals, as restricted movement is one of the main reasons some clients cannot get proper treatment.

Chang, Y. S., Zhang, Y., & Gwizdka, J. (2021). The effects of information source and eHealth literacy on consumer health information credibility evaluation behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 115, 106629. Web.

In this paper, the authors examine the troubles patients face when accessing health information: dubious information credibility. For this, eHealth literacy, with its ability to help to appraise information, is needed. The authors’ hypothesis is that eHealth literacy influences which indicators on different, both government and commercial, sites the consumers use to evaluate information. Government sites turned out to be more demanding on eHealth literacy while at the same time providing the consumers with more clear and open information on the sources of their materials. The authors conclude with the results of their study, noting some connections of different factors, such as higher levels of eHealth literacy causing more use of content and source indicators and the need to teach low eHealth literate customers to work with government websites. This article is relevant because, while its results may seem not a turning point in eHealth study, it deals with managing the technology daily and its practical implementation.

Ware, P., Bartlett, S. J., Paré, G., Symeonidis, I., Tannenbaum, C., Bartlett, G., Poissant, L., & Ahmed, S. (2017). Using eHealth Technologies: Interests, Preferences, and Concerns of older Adults. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 6(1).

This article explores older adults’ interests, concerns, and preferences while using the internet to manage their health conditions. The age category of people of 65 years or older is chosen by the authors because it often develops chronic conditions. The researchers conducted a study on two focus groups of adults above fifty years. The results reveal that five issues affect older adults’ use of online health information. First, older consumers have difficulty identifying credible sources across the web. Secondly, online information has an abundance of ownership and accessibility challenges. Thirdly, it is a challenge to find peer support and communication. Fourthly, there are limited online opportunities to enhance healthcare interactions. Finally, older adults had reservations concerning the privacy of their medical records. The article concludes that older adults have diverse requirements fueled by their experiences in medical care systems. The source is relevant as it deals with the measures to address technological gaps in healthcare and access to medical information for older adults.

Learnings from The Research

The annotated bibliography presents a compilation of the role of telemedicine in ensuring access to healthcare. I have gathered critical information and scholarly opinions about online health systems and telemedicine by assessing peer-reviewed journal articles. For example, Bitar & Alismail (2021) helped me understand the limitations that eHealth currently faces due to infrastructure flaws. Ware et al. (2017) pointed out older adults’ dynamics at utilizing eHealth technologies, which has become all the more relevant with the COVID pandemic, as it is much more hazardous for older people. Barnard-Kelly (2019) has thoroughly described the modern technology in eHealth and its theoretical bases on the case of diabetes. Chang et al. (2021) have gathered the data on the influence of the eHealth knowledge on the usage of Internet websites. From this study, I have come to a conclusion that online healthcare is beneficial because it saves the patients’ transportation costs as well.

Telemedicine plays a critical role in delivering the needed healthcare to patients suffering from chronic ailments during the corona period when movement was limited. Consequently, the patients continued their medication without risking a COVID-19 infection. Accessing medical information on the internet can be significantly challenging for older adults. I have learned that there need to be interventions that make it easy for online navigation to medical sites to enable efficient implementation of eHealth and telemedicine. Equitable access to medical care is critical for a nation, and telemedicine reduces the cost of healthcare. Thus, it is an intervention to ensure that financial constraints and geography are no longer limiting factors to accessing healthcare.

References

Bitar, H., & Alismail, S. (2021). The role of eHealth, telehealth, and telemedicine for chronic disease patients during COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid systematic review. Digital Health. 7, 1–19. Web.

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Discussion: Limited Access to Healthcare

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