Macoto, Arnold James C.

BSN-II

Andres Bonifacio College January 17, 2020

TeleHealth: Reflection Paper

Since the 1960s communication through telephone for health guidance has been described
in some literature in the medical field, but with the advent of a more advanced telecommunication
setting this method of health guidance is also now commonly used in nursing practice.

Telehealth is defined as the delivery, management, and coordination of care and services
provided via telecommunications technology within the domain of nursing. Telehealth nursing
encompasses all types of nursing care and services delivered across distances.

I personally think that this dimension of professional nursing is truly astounding. It can
allow the nurse to assess the client’s needs, the nurse can also conduct his health teaching, and can
provide advice what health actions to take based on protocol over long distances. However, we
can also think that client assessment through telephone also has a few pitfalls, one of them is that
there is no face to face meeting, so the nurse will not be able to truly comprehend the client’s
emotions and underlying motive for consultation. That is why nurses in telehealth must have
topnotch communication skills and is able to listen for nuances in the client’s communication such
as inflection, pitch, etc.

Another purpose of telehealth is for follow-up of patients who had ambulatory surgery or
complex treatment. The nurse can just call the client and assess how well the client is recovering.
The patient can also feel that they are being cared for because follow up phone calls can suggest
concern.

Furthermore, due to the arising advancements in technology, telehealth can now be

involved in health surveillance where data from a patient’s monitor can be connected to a nurse’s
computer or telephone, so that the nurse will be updated and informed about the patient’s current
health status real time and if there are any emergencies that occurred.

I think that the biggest requirements of a nurse to be able to assume this role is critical
thinking, decisiveness, and listening and communication skills. Critical thinking because when
a patient call from home with a problem, the nurse must be able to identify the need and immediacy
of the problem, how this problem should be resolved and who should solve this problem.

In conclusion, not just any nurse can be effective in the telehealth dimension of nursing
practice, that is why educational programs are important to help nurse’s develop their knowledge
and skills so that they can assess, and solve client’s problems in any telephone encounter.