How is Teleneurology beneficial for doctors and hospitals?

Telemedicine is an upgraded version of healthcare where patients don’t have to visit hospitals for treatment. They can receive health services for their diseases from home. Here, doctors check the patients through telecommunications like mobile, tab, and pc with the help of the Internet. Telemedicine is ideal for distant patients who cannot visit the hospital for treatment.

Here, in this blog, we will discuss one of the branches of telemedicine, which is Teleneurology. We will also explain to you how Teleneurology is beneficial for doctors and hospitals. Let’s see what Teleneurology is.

What is Teleneurology?

Teleneurology is a subset of telemedicine solutions because it provides online or over-the-phone consultations for neurological issues at a distance. Here, doctors treat patients through teleconsultations and teleconferences. Strokes, epilepsy, headaches, multiple sclerosis, and dementia are a few illnesses that neurologists have been reported to diagnose and treat.

The use of Teleneurology by doctors in stroke patients has proven noteworthy. Treatments with thrombolytics are quickly chosen. Using this technology, neurologists can now evaluate a patient wherever they may be. Teleneurology is becoming more and more popular among patients.

Hospitals are reinventing how they provide care in light of the quick uptake of telehealth and video conferencing technology. Many hospitals are using teleneurology, particularly currently in response to COVID-19, to safeguard patient health, make the most of available resources, and carry out routine procedures as quickly as feasible. Inpatient rounding is one activity that hospitals are successfully deploying Teleneurology.Let’s see what inpatient rounding is.

What is inpatient rounding?

Inpatient rounding has been an essential component of patient care for a long time. Physicians and other medical professionals began to appreciate the advantages of proactive patient care through regular check-ins as early as the 17th century. Hospitals now conduct inpatient rounds as a chance to assess patient progress, modify medication, and organise post-discharge care.

Allocating onsite neurologists to carry out duties like inpatient rounds, however, might be difficult due to a rising national scarcity of neurologists, particularly in rural areas.

Benefits of Teleneurology for doctors and hospitals

As per a study, there is a shortage of neurologists in the world. Let’s take the example of America. According to research in 2013 by the American Academy of Neurology, there was an 11% deficit of neurologists and by 2025, that number was expected to rise to 19%.

With this less number of neurologists, how can they treat the large number of patients of neuro? In America, many people die due to strokes every year, and it is the third largest death cause.

Multiple patients wait for their number to get an appointment with experts. Many patients have to wait for more than three months for their number.

If we are talking about doctors, it is very difficult for them to treat so many patients at the right time. They treat patients as much as they can. To overcome these problems, hospitals and doctors begin to adopt Teleneurology. With Teleneurology, they can now treat multiple patients than before. Now let’s see some benefits of Teleneurology for doctors and hospitals.

1. Remote Diagnosis

In and of itself, telemedicine is remote medical care. Consultations are conducted over the phone. Remote diagnostics are performed. The idea is not entirely novel. It was made around 1969. What has changed is that technological advancements now make it possible to undertake diagnosis over the phone or via a webcam. These technological advancements enable the limitations of location and time to dissolve, enabling patients to get diagnoses at a speed that was unheard of before the advent of telemedicine.

Telemedicine is used in many different medical disciplines. Telemedicine has been used by pathologists, dermatologists, and radiologists for a long time, mostly because of the demand for visual reporting and patient imaging. Telepsychiatry is starting to thrive. When patients can contact their doctor over the Internet, they can do so with less reluctance. The field of Teleneurology has recently started to grow widely.

2. More effective care coordination

Treatment of neurological diseases and stroke treatment is challenging. The treatment of neurological diseases is not common for all. Every patient requires different treatment due to their different health conditions. The treatment of neurologists depends on the history of patients, daily progress monitoring, and tests & scans. The treatment is not finished here. After discharge, patients require regular monitoring of their health condition. These things can only be possible through Teleneurology.

The patient is seen by the same teleneurologist throughout their recovery period when teleneurologist are used in a planned coverage model, such as that offered by VirtualMed Staff. As the teleneurologist maintains the patient during their inpatient stay, this continuity of care has been demonstrated to improve patient satisfaction while also enabling improved progress monitoring.

3. Shorter wait times

Usually, the minimal coverage provided by on-site neurologists only occurs in the morning or evening. Many patients may have to wait several hours before a doctor is available to conduct a consultation or examine test results. But if a hospital provides Teleneurology services, then patients can consult a specialist right away and avoid protracted wait times or pointless transfers.

4. Accessibility and patient care are made simple

Healthcare specialist shortages are most severe in rural areas. Since just 22% of rural settlements are within a 30-minute drive of a hospital with a neurologist on duty, teleneurologist provide rural patients the chance to obtain care closer to where they live. The hospital gains from this in a few different ways. It enhances their standing in the neighborhood and guarantees that in the event of a medical emergency, EMTs won’t bypass them because they can’t get to a neurologist. Similar to how it lessens patient transfers, which can drastically lower the likelihood of a successful medical outcome.

The surge in telehealth and telemedicine usage by both patients and providers presents an opportunity for Teleneurology. Hospitals can efficiently streamline care by having a group of teleneurologist handle common chores from a distance. In turn, this safeguards patient health, makes the most of available resources, enables a hospital to see more patients, and enhances patient outcomes.

Conclusion

In this blog, we have discussed what Teleneurology is, and how it is beneficial for doctors and hospitals. We have also mentioned some points which will help you understand this topic. We hope that the blog will be useful for you.