User:Kcharett/Telehealth

Origin
The exact date of origin for Telehealth is unknown, but it was known to have been used during the Bubonic Plague. That version of Telehealth was far different from how we know it today. During that time, they were communicating by heliograph and bonfire. Those were used to notify other groups of people about famine and war. Those are not using any form of technology yet but are starting to spread the idea of connectivity among groups of people who geographically couldn’t be together. In 1861 during the Civil War telegraphs were being used to communicate casualty lists and request more medical supplies. Not too long after that, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. As the 1900s started, physicians quickly found a use for the telephone making it a prime communication channel to contact patients and other physicians. Over the next fifty-plus years, the telephone was a staple for medical communication. As the 1930s came around, radio communication played a key role, especially during World War I. It was specifically used to communicate with remote areas such as Alaska and Australia. They used the radio to communicate medical information. During the Vietnam War, radio communication had become more advanced and was now used to send medical teams in helicopters to help. This then brought together the Aerial Medical Service (AMS) who used telegraphs, radios, and planes to help care for people who lived in remote areas.

Technological Advancements
After the telegraph and telephone started to successfully help physicians treat patients from remote areas telehealth became more recognized. Technological advancements occurred when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent men to space. Engineers for NASA created biomedical telemetry and telecommunications systems. NASA technology monitored vitals such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and temperature. After NASA created all that technology it then became the base of telehealth medicine for the public. The next advancement was made at Massachusetts General Hospital and Logan Airport. Logan Airport was set up as a nurse-run clinic that cared for plane crash victims along with other accidents. They took vital signs, electrocardiograms, and video images that they sent to Massachusetts General. On October 26th, 1960, a plane struck a flock of birds upon takeoff at Logan Airport killing many passengers and leaving a bunch wounded. Due to the extreme complexity of trying to get all the medical personnel out from Massachusetts General. The practical solution became Telehealth. Soon after that Logan Airport began seeing over a hundred patients a day using telehealth as a viable resource to communicate with the doctors at Massachusetts General. A notable story that followed within this article was a woman who got off a flight in Boston and she was experiencing chest pain. They performed a workup at the airport, took her to the telehealth suite where Dr. Murphy popped up on the tv and had a conversation with her. While this was happening another doctor took notes, the nurses were taking vitals, and any test that Dr. Murphy ordered. At this point, telehealth was becoming more mainstream and was starting to be technologically advanced which created a viable option for patients. The airport is located only 2.7 miles from the hospital but provided quality medical care that allowed it to help more people.

At Home Virtual Care
As the expansion of telehealth continues in 1990 Maritime Health Services (MHS) was a big part of the initiation for occupational health services. They sent a medical officer aboard the Pacific trawler that allowed for round-the-clock communication with a physician. The system that allows for this is called the Medical Consultation Network (MedNet). MedNet is a video chatting system that has live audio and visual so the physician on the other end of the call can see and hear what is happening. MetNet can be used from anywhere, it does not have to be just aboard ships. Being able to provide onsite visual information allows remote patients expert emergency help and medical attention that saves money as well as lives. This has created a demand for at-home monitoring. At-home care has also become a large part of telehealth. Doctors or nurses will now give pre-op and post-op phone calls to check-in. There are also companies such as “Lifeline” which give elderly folks a button to press in case of an emergency. That button will automatically call for emergency help. If someone has surgery and then is sent home, telehealth allows physicians to see how the patient is progressing without them having to stay in the hospital. TeleDiagnostic Systems of San Francisco is a company that has created a device that monitors sleep patterns, so people who suffer from sleep disorders do not have to stay the night at the hospital. Another at-home device that was created was the “Wanderer.” They attached this to Alzheimer's patients or people who suffered from dementia. It was attached to them so when they wandered off it notified the staff to allow them to go after them. All these devices allowed healthcare beyond hospitals to improve, which means that more people are being helped efficiently.

Covid- 19
Telehealth is playing a significant role amidst the Covid- 19 pandemic. With the pandemic, telehealth has become a vital means of medical communication. It allows doctors to return to humanizing the patient. It forces them to listen to what people have to say and from there make a diagnosis. Some researchers claim this creates an environment that encourages greater vulnerability among patients in self disclosure in the practice of narrative medicine. Telehealth allows for zoom calls and video chats from across the world checking in on patients and speaking to physicians. Universities are now ensuring that medical students are coming out of school with proficient telehealth communication skills. Experts suggest Telehealth will be a vital part of medicine with more virtual options becoming available the public is now able to pick whether they want to stay home or go into the office.