The world today is run by telecommunication systems which continue to get advanced by the day. Healthcare service providers can leverage on this Technology to make their services accessible to more people. Telehealth, as It is popularly know, is an emerging concept in health services provision. It encompasses a wide range of services including health education, consultation and treatment of various medical conditions. It is also termed e-health or electronic health.

One of the major factors that have driven healthcare in this direction is the advancement that has been seen in the technology field. Movement of information is now seamless thanks to the internet and the telephone. By taking advantage of this, doctors and patients have found it a lot easier to exchange information. Better drugs have been developed and many of them can be tolerated by a patient at home hence no need for hospital admissions.

One of the areas that has greatly benefited from the adoption of this concept is the management of chronic diseases. Conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic renal failure and asthma have often meant that patients pay their physicians regular visits to monitor their progress. This is, however, rapidly changing as many of these patients can be monitored remotely and managed which saves them both money and time.

With this platform, doctor to doctor consultation is now a lot easier. It is possible to now get expert opinions on various challenging cases in a matter of minutes or hours even when such experts are in different geographical locations. In fact, through teleconferencing, several doctors can deliberate through a case as though they are in the same board room yet they could be hundreds if not thousands of miles apart.

Telenursing is a category of telemedicine dealing with the provision of nursing services. It is a form of home based care that rides on telecommunication technology. This service is particularly helpful to patients living alone in remote locations. This system increases efficiency as one nurse can monitor several patients at a go. It makes the service affordable by most people who need it.

Just as happened in many other industries, technology has been a major disruption in healthcare. Disruptions everywhere tend to face a lot of resistance. Some doctors of older generations initially showed resistance for a number of reasons. One of them was the fact that they had to shift from using print to computers and this required them to learn new skills. Others simply feared that they would lose their jobs.

Many patients have readily accepted the new way of doing things but some still have reservations. One of the causes for concern is their own privacy. Reassurances have centred around restrictions in access to private patient information. Only authorized healthcare professionals have accounts with accompanying user names and passwords. Moreover, information can only be extracted or shared with the consent of the patient.

The use of telecommunication devices in serving patients is on the rise. The initial resistance appears to be wearing off and many more patients and professionals are getting on board. The future of medicine is going to be so dependent on technology such that many services will be obtained just by the touch of a button. Surgical intervention may be the only exception to this.