Valarie Romero, STEM researcher, wrote in an article appearing in the April 26, 2018 Arizona Telemedicine Blog https://telemedicine.arizona.edu, patients are starting to expect more convenient options and access to more information about their health. This requires using new technologies such as data analytics to help advance the use of telemedicine while empowering both physicians and patients.
The use of new technologies have helped telehealth to become a reality for many patients without easy access to healthcare facilities as the use of telehealth can also fill gaps in specialty care.
Some of the ways monitoring patient data can help telehealth providers:
- Remote monitoring can track the patient’s overall health to help predict life threatening events, help doctors administer correct medication dosages, and cut down on costs. By 2020, there will be an estimated 2314 exabytes of data obtained from remote patient monitoring technologies which is expected to improve outcomes
- Big data can bring in contextual data and potentially useful external information. By using EHRs plus the doctor’s observations, high risk patients can be identified and diagnosed more effectively
- Drones have applications for use during disasters since drones can be used to collect data and perform reconnaissance after a disaster and then deploy supplies and medical equipment to areas
- Apps on smartphones can help telehealth providers use the information to help diagnose, and treat patients but also enable patients to monitor their own health and share the information with their healthcare providers.
Go to http://www.telemedicine.arizona.edu/blog/five-ways-bg-data-advancing-telemedicine to view the blog article “Five Ways Big Data is Advancing Telemedicine.”