Last Updated on April 24, 2024
People with Diabetes are one of the highest-risk demographics for COVID complications, but the better their diabetes is managed, the less likely those hazards become. That makes chronic care particularly important during the pandemic. With doctors and patients alike trying to manage their COVID risk, regular in-patient appointments are no longer a given, though. Emergency department visits declined by 42% when the pandemic first struck. Those numbers dived even more as conditions worsened, but digital healthcare services rose in tandem.
Telemedicine is enjoying its heyday. Doctors have begun to rely heavily on video consultations, but they cannot do it all. Examinations and diagnostic tests are the core of diabetes care, so patients and doctors must leverage telemedicine intelligently to prevent gaps in care from emerging. For many people with diabetes, this type of medical treatment is becoming more common.
Making Care Available
Telemedicine is designed to fulfil one purpose: to bring doctors and patients together at a time when in-person care is impossible. The rise in its use has exposed several benefits that are not found in traditional healthcare environments. Patients typically spend two hours on brick-and-mortar visits, but only 20 minutes with their doctors. That can make consultations a stressful prospect. Telemedicine has repaired those problems by reducing cancellations and relieving patient anxiety. There is also reduced costs. Virtual visits come with a few other important benefits. They:
- Give patients better confidentiality.
- Make it possible for patients to consult in tandem with family members across the world.
- Reduce the use of unnecessary lab testing.
- Give doctors an insider’s view of patients’ living conditions.
- Allow patients to see doctors who are in quarantine.
- Help doctors to triage more effectively.
Studies show that disease progression because of telemedicine is less common than you might think, but remote calls come with obvious disadvantages. Reduced testing can have catastrophic effects on diabetes patients. Patient empowerment is particularly important in this arena. When doctors do not have the benefit of lab tests and physical exams, their patients’ observational skills are a core part of the consultation.
Doctors are facing their own telemedicine challenges. Technology plays a key part in a person with Diabetes treatment plan. Patient privacy is difficult to secure with tools like Skype and Zoom. Private practices have had to develop robust digital infrastructures that meet the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Not all service providers are able to meet those regulations and, while governments around the world have relaxed many of these restrictions, privacy remains a key ethic.
Meeting Confidentiality Codes
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In the telemedicine space, information must be gathered and processed only when necessary and always on GDPR-compliant technologies. Data storage and retention come with their own limitations. Patients must be given the option of deletion at any stage, and service providers should have a strong deletion policy to support that practice. Encrypted backups are critical. Users have the right to:
- Request data access
- Ask for deletion or rectification.
- Ask for processing restrictions.
- Refuse data processing.
- Not have their data processed via automation.
Not all traditional practices have developed an end-to-end data storage policy, so the learning curve can become steep. Practices must also invest in a range of new technologies if they’re to see their patients through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Benefits of VoIP
VoIP services allow call recording, which is allowed by the GDPR when its goal is to protect patients’ wellbeing. Its teleconferencing powers allow patients, primary healthcare providers, and specialists to meet simultaneously, so communication failures are easy to minimise. The medium has also developed an excellent reputation as a telerehabilitation tool. Not only does it improve exercise capacity among diabetes 2 patients, but also patients’ psychosocial status. Double blind trials have proven that it improves patient fitness, walking distances, and depression levels, too. It also plays a key role in saving time and treatment costs. With so many practices serving more patients than they can realistically help, telemedicine can relieve much of the pressure healthcare professionals face.
Lifestyle Management
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Weight, blood sugar management, and exercise are the pillars of diabetes management. Telerehabilitation procedures can promote all three via glycaemic control, weight loss support, complication prediction, and blood pressure improvements. Regular exercise comes with particularly low compliance levels, which are often related to affordability. Telehealth interventions attack both areas through custom phone messages, interactive voice response, and motivating calls.
Augmenting Physical Examinations
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The major disadvantage of telemedicine is the lack of hands-on examinations. Thanks to wearable healthcare tools, that drawback is less devastating than it once was. Digital technologies can record important heart, lung, and blood pressure checks, not just during the appointment, but at all times of the day and night. The patterns that data produces are invaluable to doctors on a diagnostic and monitoring level.
Some tools come with imaging add-ons that allow doctors to examine body parts remotely. Ulcers, candida, and other conditions typical of poorly managed diabetes can all be recorded and seen, but remote healthcare can achieve more than bread-and-butter basics. Some Apple wearables can perform EKGs, while other patient-operated technologies can perform digital scopes, deep brain stimulation, and EMGs. The latter two procedures are notoriously expensive, so telehealth can reduce patient expenses dramatically.
The Role of Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence has crept into almost every industry, and medicine is no different. Machine learning tools can watch and record biomarkers, then engage patients about them through social media. It has even evolved enough to leverage complex statistical methods to learn about every patient outside the consultation room, predicting diabetes complications like retinopathy and nephropathy long before a doctor suspects them. Diabetes management has never been this thorough or intelligent.
Telehealth has improved the detection and early management of complications, so outcomes are more secure than ever. When AI and wearables meet, those results are even more dramatic. One hospital group in England has begun releasing all patients with a wi-fi-enabled armband that keeps track of their vital signs. That has already decreased treatment adherence by 46%. The technology uses algorithms to spot red flags before informing patients and doctors, so it reduces ER visits with every passing day.
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Overcoming the Challenges
To work, telemedicine relies on broadband and digital monitoring tools, many of which are patient centric. Not all socioeconomic groups have internet access, much fewer wearable technologies. Remote tools are expensive for low and even middle-income groups, so a remote-first policy is better than a remote-only one. Decentralised care can support that model, so this is the time for specialists to focus on their teamwork.
Hospitals are expected to spend US$2 billion a year on medical imaging AI technologies. Telemedicine is only as effective as its capacity to monitor diabetes patients, so widespread adoption will have a powerful impact on patients’ quality of life. Telemedicine might be improving outcomes now, but its best effects are still to come. The data revolution has finally entered the medical field, and its greatest benefits fall squarely on the shoulders of patients.
Author Bio: This article was written by Seamus Dunne of Conversation Piece. Seamus works with numerous healthcare providers to ensure they have the latest VoIP and Soft Phone technologies.
