telemedicine - ETKHO Hospital Engineering

Telemedicine: Paradigm shift after the pandemic

Telemedicine, after the coronavirus, has positioned itself as an essential element in the health industry.

One of the main consequences of Covid-19 is the great advance that telemedicine has experienced globally. Whether they are more advanced countries accustomed to the use of new health technologies, or those that had not opted for telemedicine, remote health care has increased during the pandemic and lockdowns.

Although it is true that more telephone medicine has been done than telemedicine itself, many barriers planned for the coming years have been broken in just a few months. In addition, much of the fear of the dehumanization of health technology has been eliminated.

Thus, the different health administrations are beginning to generalize teleconsultations and other resources of the digitalization of health.

The effectiveness of home health care, regardless of the face-to-face hospital infrastructure, in case of having telematic means to be able to monitor the patient, has become the present and the future of health.

Telemedicine: present and future of technology for health

During the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, there was a collapse of health centers. At that time, face-to-face healthcare was limited to extremely serious or urgent cases. This situation highlighted the need to promote telemedicine, an option that, thanks to technology, opens up new options for medical care and telematic monitoring both in health centers and hospitals.

A study carried out by ESADE and the Barcelona Health Hub shows that during the pandemic almost 100% of scheduled medical visits were carried out via telemedicine. In fact, in April 2020, 85% of outpatient consultations in many hospitals were done by phone.