Week 5 Class 1 Assignment

DATA COLLECTION: TELEHEALTH 1

Data Collection: Telehealth

Nikita Chapman

Liberty University

Author Note

Nikita Chapman

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to

Nikita Chapman. Email: [email protected]

DATA COLLECTION: TELEHEALTH 2

Data Collection: Telehealth

Every day people need to travel to access health care. With the help of telehealth, instead of

accessing health care, health care can access them in their homes. Telehealth is the delivery of a

health service across a distance. An example of telehealth maybe if a patient has a video

conference appointment from their home or a regional hospital directly to a specialist at the main

city hospital. Telehealth can also be delivered using the simple telephone by sharing information.

An example of this can be sending a digital image by email or through cellphones is an

excellent example of telehealth. It is a method of supporting people in remote rural, or remote

areas that cannot have access to specialists or experienced doctors for complex or higher degree

diseases (Jennett & Andruchuk, 2001). Telehealth can be beneficial for a range of appointments,

such as follow-up appointments.

Many of these conventional hurdles to telemedicine adoption have been broken down by the

quick popularity of telehealth in reaction to the severe social distancing regulations related to

COVID-19 (Hirko, 2020, p. 1817). For many health care organizations or clinics, a quick change

to this alternative is seen as the only way to earn revenue and provide assistance to patients. For

several healthcare organizations or clinics, a quick change to this alternative is seen as the only

way to earn revenue and provide assistance to patients (Hakim et al., 2020, p. 48). While many

of these organizations took a cautious and deliberate response, others have not.

Many have adapted to this strategy without considering its impact and whether this approach

is capable in the long run and is productive for both parties (Hilty, 2018, p. 819). It is undeniable

that doctors' and patients' direct experiences with telehealth will change their minds, either

constructively or destructively, regarding this model of care provision. In order to check the

effectiveness of the approach, a study needs to be conducted, and a methodology needs to be

DATA COLLECTION: TELEHEALTH 3

outlined. This methodology importantly includes the main three steps that are: study setting,

sampling process, and the procedure, and finally, the data collection.

Research Design

A research design needs to be outlined and constructed to determine the possible impact and

implications of the approach. The need for this approach is already identified because the rise

and new pandemic waves of Covid-19 variants highlight the importance (Hirko, 2020, p. 1818).

Due to lockdowns and social distancing restrictions, it is hard for people to attend medical

appointments or consultations and difficult for doctors to manage the patients for face-to-face

consultations or appointments. Therefore, present-day it is the need of time. The competency of

this approach needs to be evaluated, for which further study needs to be conducted.

Study Setting

The study needs to be conducted essentially at hospitals. For using this strategy, clinical

variables may need to be considered. These characteristics are to be taken into account on a

service-by-service basis, with clear documentation to assist physicians in selecting people who

could benefit from a telehealth session.

Patient information: The variable that should be considered are age, any comorbidities,

communication barriers, the urgency to provide medical care because of the disease, possible

sensory impairment, and whether they are qualified for the use of telehealth.

Accessing type of delivery: It can be provided in a "hybrid" approach, with some

consultations taking place in person and others taking place over the phone. Patients with

complex or advanced-stage diseases will need in-person consultations or appointments to access

their condition by the doctors, and then their subsequent consultations or follow-up appointments

can be conducted with the help of telehealth service.

DATA COLLECTION: TELEHEALTH 4

All these points need to be consulted with the doctors first, and it is vital to take their point of

view. Similarly, patients and people also need to be consulted to take their point of view

regarding this approach. Furthermore, the patients who have already used this approach can

provide more insight into the effectiveness as this approach is more importantly about patients. It

is essential to understand the effectiveness of this approach and whether it aided in tackling the

problems patients were facing.

Sampling Processes and Procedure

Many people belonging to a different line of fields, for example, a specialist in bioinformatics,

medical health assistance, policymaking, and public policy, need to be interviewed to understand

this approach and tackle it effectively from every aspect. The representatives or experts are

brought in to contribute information and comments but are not considered the study's writers,

neither are responsible for its accuracy, and the study may not necessarily represent their

perspectives. Representatives are given chances to respond to the preliminary study "as part of

the peer-review process," in addition to the previous discussion. Conducting interviews and

discussion with them is to understand any loophole or the issues with the policies based on the

use of telehealth.

The representatives will highlight the scope of this approach and provide their view on

tackling the issues with the stakeholders. They will also be given a questionnaire covering

questions regarding communication, doctors' consultation, and disease management on their

behalf. Moreover, whether they would be more comfortable directly using a telephone as a

means of communication or software that would help them connect with their choice of expert or

specialist to help them with their medical conditions. Accessing their answers will help identify

the mode of delivery people will be more comfortable using the approach.

DATA COLLECTION: TELEHEALTH 5

People who have used this strategy during or before the pandemic will be provided with

different questionnaires; they will cover their experience and effectiveness. The changes they

would want to see in the strategy and the problems they came across.

Data Collection

The survey of people and patients and the interviews of representatives will be collected and

analyzed. The questionnaires will be evaluated, and their contents will be analyzed. The results'

significance can be calculated using various software, and this software will aid in representing a

small set of possibilities and estimations that are not very accurate. Similarly, the interviews of

representatives will also be evaluated, and combining the suggestions and requirements or

problems that patients faced will be put together to make telehealth effective, efficient, and cost-

effective. Lastly, chi-square will be performed to look for links between systematic review

findings and possible outcomes, whether the reviews utilized statistical analysis, and if the

reviews included quality of data evaluation in their results (Totten et al., 1995).

Combining these steps and following this research model will aid significantly in

understanding the scope and effectiveness of telehealth for the patients and the doctors. The

ethical consideration should also be evaluated. Patient consent is vital because their information

will be taken for this approach, and there is a difference between in-person and Telehealth

appointments or consultations. Furthermore, during a telemedicine consultation, the same level

of privacy and confidentiality must be maintained during an in-person session (Cottrell &

Russell, 2020).

This approach can be helpful not only in a pandemic but also in accessing medical care for the

people living in the country or remote areas. As a result, it should not be taken as a temporary

Band-Aid but a long-term solution for people to securely receive health services.

DATA COLLECTION: TELEHEALTH 6

References

Cottrell, M. A., & Russell, T. G. (2020). Telehealth for musculoskeletal

physiotherapy. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 48, 102193. https://doi-

org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1016/j.msksp.2020.102193

Hakim, A. A., Kellish, A. S., Atabek, U., Spitz, F. R., & Hong, Y. K. (2020). Implications for the

use of telehealth in surgical patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The American

Journal of Surgery, 220(1), 48-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2020.04.026

Hilty. (2018). The Need to Implement and Evaluate Telehealth Competency Frameworks to

Ensure Quality Care across Behavioral Health Professions. Academic Psychiatry Official

Journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and

the Association for Academic Psychiatry., 42(6), 818–824.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-018-0992-5

Hirko. (2020). Telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for rural health

disparities. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA., 27(11),

1816–1818. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa156

Jennett PA, Andruchuk K. Telehealth: 'real life' implementation issues. Comput Methods

Programs Biomed. 2001 Mar;64(3):169-74. doi: 10.1016/s0169-2607(00)00136-x.

PMID: 11226614

Totten, P. L., King, B. J., & Chatterji, J. (1995). U.S. Patent No. 5,458,195. Washington, DC:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://doi.org/10.1016/1352-0237(94)00035-N