Telehealth, Telemedicine, and Related Technologic Platforms: Current Practice and Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Providing health care at a distance has evolved over the past decades, resulting in a myriad of terms and styles of care delivery. Telehealth is defined as any health care service delivered at a distance. Nursing services have been delivered by a wide range of specialty nurses for many years using various technological formats. Clinical experience suggests that few WOC nurses had extensively adopted these technologies and principles into their practice as recently as 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has forced both administrators and clinicians to rapidly adapt or introduce telemedicine technologies to deliver specialty care including WOC nurse services.

Cases: Three WOC nurses were chosen to describe the use of telehealth technologies to illustrate opportunities for WOC nurses to integrate telehealth nursing into a health care setting. Two adapted telehealth technology into their practice before the pandemic, and one started telehealth practice as a means to provide care after the onset of the pandemic. Disadvantages and advantages are discussed to provide further information regarding WOC patient care using these technologies.

Conclusion: The pandemic crisis has accelerated the need for health care to reimagine the delivery of care to patients. Telehealth technologies and principles have emerged as essential for WOC nurses to deliver safe and effective care.