Introduction
Telemedicine is one of the key approaches in modern digital medicine during the uncommon conditions caused by COVID-19. Chronic disease patients have always been a trouble for both doctors and patients as such people need constant monitoring. Since visiting with one’s doctor physically could be challenging due to the pandemic, most people resort to telemedicine. Once COVID-19 struck, physical separation and overwhelmed health facilities were expected norms for the closure of healthcare gaps by the use of telemedicine. This move to virtual consultations amidst chronic diseases that have become part of daily life in the world is relevant today. However, at this age; there are various aspects relating chronic diseases management in telemedicine should be explored and understood. However, this goes beyond a mere research issue and is of essence for any prediction about events to come. Reviewing the significance of telemedicine in chronic disease management amidst the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on the benefits as well as shortcomings that could be beneficial in providing better insight into how it can help improve public health in the future.
Search Process
The aim of this study was to determine whether telemedicine was effective for chronic illness management during the covid-19 period. We used one of the most common question paradigms, the one that follows the initials PICO, to ask: “How telemedicine intervention (I) differs from conventional medical consultations (O) carried out on patients with chronic diseases (P), concerning its effects. This academic exercise assessed the role of telemedicine in the management of chronic illness during the Covid-19 pandemonium. This question can be used to guide research on telemedicine, chronic disease oversight, and COVID-19. Applying Garrard’s (2017) Matrix method, the authors generated a Systematic analysis and organization Evidence Table from 40 top-notch articles from a broader set of writings.
III. Critical Analysis
Role of Telemedicine during the Pandemic
Telemedicine was key for the continuity of chronic condition management despite the rush in the healthcare industry aimed at handling the novelty and unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic. The early stages of the COVID-19 infection presented a clear message on the necessity and effectiveness of distant medicine as it pushed for healthcare organizations to work under unfamiliar circumstances globally. It was imperative to reduce the opportunities of transmission of the virus through direct contact as the virus’s strength and infectivity were clarified. Thus, the calls for many health organizations urgently adopted digital technologies in health care delivery are important and timely for the patients with chronic diseases (Stachteas et al., 2022). The nature of such conditions affected many patients from traveling to the hospital for physical sessions since they were seriously sick. This meant their unceasing demand for supervision. The pace in which their care had to deliver was adjusted to accommodate their urgent needs without compromising their general safety during their treatment.
The sudden advocacy for telemedicine was initiated by many global healthcare players causing the same. As earlier researches have indicated, this was not just a shift during the period of the epidemic but an entirely revolutionary change. However, there are healthcare organizations which, according to Stachteas et al. (2022), advertise digitized techniques as competitive, if not better options than traditional modes of care provision.8 This was made possible due to several proofs. Telemedicine may have been seen in evident use but this does not take away the factual advantage that it constructed a strong wall towards COVID-19 exposure; promoting positive patient health and safety. One economic effect was also evident: in most cases, the tele medical practices resulted in decreased health costs that eased some of the financial pressure resulting from the crisis. Telemedicine had a lot of advantages over going to the doctor’s office, which included protecting patients from catching other infections at the hospital since the doctor came to see them. When patients could get good treatment without leaving their homes and facing any transportation problems, a new chapter in patient-centered care delivery.
Benefits and Barriers
Telemedicine boomed during the COVID- 19 pandemic, bringing about a much-needed change amidst the disquietude of the entire healthcare sector. The chronic conditions were especially well suited to telemedicine, which stepped in to provide ongoing treatment and unbroken care throughout the pandemic. There are several advantages associated with this digital transformation in healthcare. The use of telemedicine significantly lowered the chances of having the condition. Physical isolation, which was the trend during that period, made patients, especially those belonging to a vulnerable population with recurrent illnesses, free from likely virus exposures in overcrowded hospitals thereby becoming immune from possible COVID-19 hotspots. In terms of safety this coupled with medical monitoring all demonstrate beyond question the real worth of telemedicine. No more were the patients looking in on the outside. Instead they engaged in home-based healthcare at their own convenience.
A study has demonstrated that telemedicine worked amidst COVID-19 leading to continuity in treatment as well as preventing infectiousness. According to Omboni et al., Italy introduced telehealth system that involved use of app installed in mobile phone to monitor patient’s blood pressure and pulse as well as involve community pharmacies. Despite reduced general tests under lockdowns, it was successful in raising up cases of ECG defects due to myocardial ischemic attack. It also maintained baseline blood pressure among the patients. However, at this point many individuals submitted their personal health details using local household facilities. This implies that telemedicine is all about ensuring that the patient takes action for his or her own health. Telehealth application has become a valuable tool that helped these chronically-ill people save their health condition during the pandemic period. In another paper by Omboni et al. (2021) found that telemedicine is one of the strategies for caring for patients with complicated and chronic diseases.
Nevertheless, a variety of challenges are associated with telemedicine just as any other paradigm shift. However, Stachteas et al. (2022) give a new perspective about those challenges and highlight some difficulties for general implementation. For our purposes, the most alarming problem is unequal application of technology. The issue of telemedicine is that in a culture where technology tools and technical knowledge remain highly stratified, the use of telemedicine may result as an extra privilege bestowed on a few lucky ones instead of a basic right extended upon everybody. It is important to understand what “digital divide” means because a certain number of such people cannot take advantage of the telemedicine revolution. The access matter is beyond the original one on patient confidentiality in online consultations. The increase in digitization of health care information comes with an increasing threat of both accidental and intentional breaches. Lastly, even though scheduling of telemedicine consultation could be done conveniently; people are always arguing about whether this process is better than having personal consultations. In a digital world, the traditional therapeutics approach which includes sensitivity and parts on physical examination, gentleness in touching etc., makes it even more difficult to adapt. The way in which telemedicine became an integral part of medical practice rather than a short-term measure still remains a story to be told as the world copes with these problems.
Methodological Considerations
All this was aimed to achieve an objective evaluation of the significant effect of telemedicine in disease management during the COVID-19 pandemic based upon high methodological rigor with regard to validity and reliability of the generated findings. The fast incorporation of various types of telemedicine has provided health care providers, educators, and policymakers with complex issues and multiple views. With these numerous methods is in the middle Garrard (2017) noted how necessary it would be to perform the extensive literature review. Scaffold was not merely an academic jargon, but a test of the reliability and validity of the pillars upon which the findings rested aimed at omitting the biasness and inadvertent neglects. This examination was very comprehensive and its epicenter was the matrix method which is not only a procedural direction, but also as important compass. There was no chaos that could have undermined orderly organization of voluminous quantities of data as it compressed information in such meaningful groups and presented researchers “bird’s-eye” view to the environment in such a convenient manner. Knowing the impact of telemedicine on long term care amidst world disruption is proof enough that this is a working technique. As suggested by Garrard (2017), such sophisticated, stringent methodologies as the “Matrix Method” had been employed not to be too convincing or simple, but to make our findings credible.
Implications for Nursing Practice
The nursing system supports the entire healthcare system to ensure proper patient services delivery. COVID-19 pandemic environment created a chaos that made this truth evident. The multifaceted crossroads between nursing and telemedicine, with all its prospective as well as perilous perspectives remains one of today’s state of art resources at hand for the Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project (Moran et al., 2017). During the course of the illness, nurses were the ones at the epicenter of changing paradigms of healthcare as it was happening. Instead, they did not only benefited from it but also assisted in integrating various aspects related to telematics medical modalities into a complicated matrix involved with patient care. Nursing was done excellently with regard to addressing patient needs, integration within techno-medical systems, and general medical goals. It was also much more than a logistical problem. Nursing creativity and flexibility demonstrated their importance to this case. Such an approach can be used as a pattern for nursing once pandemics are over.
Nursing demands during the coronavirus disease pandemic together with the development of telemedicine are changing nursing, which in turn will have significant ramifications for the nursing profession. Nurses’ resilience and creativity in tackling the challenge of the pandemic would have been shown if it was in a laboratory. Use of telemedicine as a normal aspect of patient care by nurses in emergency circumstances could have been the beginning point of nursing’s future. In this sense, nurses become more than just practitioners; they are the architects of innovative, technology-savvy and caring health care for tomorrow. The NDP Scholarly Project indicated that nurses play a crucial role in instituting telemedicine into the health care system. This will consequently make nurses accountable for more than simple bed-side nursing (Moran et al., 2017). Besides, they shall bridge digital gaps and offer holistic care amidst worldwide turmoil.
Patient Perspectives
Telemedicine emerged as a critical factor in medicine during COVID-19; this provided fresh, beautiful drugs on the market. The essence of beauty in this case is determined by other stakeholders such as patients who have experienced the treatment processes. Viewed by different patients’ mosaic takes on the character of an amazing complexity and high diversity. At the same time, there was comfort in telemedicine being accessible because it was like a flashlight that illuminated the thickest clouds. Provided that is, as lifeline for many patients the transition to virtual consultations meant continuous treatment but without exposing patients to risks associated with traditional face-to-face meetings. Especially, people with chronic illnesses stand much to gain from this. It could be argued that such benefits as less travelling, shorter waiting and accessing doctors without leaving one’s home may necessitate a change in the fundamental principles of patient-centered care.
On the other hand, this narrative of comfort and convenience was in sharp opposition with a deeper feeling associated with connections between individuals that could not be seen. The transition to virtual worlds became a double-edged sword for some individuals. Though it is undeniably convenient, there is still longing for intimacy, familiarity, and reassuring touch which can be attained only through personal interaction. The topic of feeling suitably “nursed” was well described by Moran et al. (2017), noting that it hardly occurs within digital contexts. This emotion was more than a throwback; it appealed to a basic human need: sympathy, understanding, and empathy, which are all jeopardized by the blare of contemporary technology. Much can be learnt from such different perceptions. In embracing the digital revolution in healthcare, professionals should make sure that technology improves but not replaces the crucial and critical human component that is inherent in healing. Treating body and treating of diseased mind is no less in importance than treating bodily diseases.
Future Prospects
There was a need for rapid transformation in which the health sector had to adjust and reshape itself due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, telemedicine has led in the front rank of this change, having acted both like a prefigurement of a new era in healthcare services delivery and an increasing solution. However, as the world recovers from the pandemic and the dust settles down, these doubts become more serious about whether telemedicine will remain viable for the long term and can mesh well with the current health care system. There is no doubt that coronavirus led to a paradigm shift towards embracement of digital health care but it should be noted however that considering the adverse effects of coronavirus in the long run cannot be overlooked especially when dealing with chronic conditions. This is not an attempt to downplay the apparent advantages associated with telemedicine, but simply that it be accepted as truly effective and leading to optimal patient outcomes. Bonnel and Smith (2014) note that additional research about what made the pandemic to rapidly adopt telemedicine must be done after society is back in normal times.
A detailed study is necessary to predict the future of the telemedicine application’s use in health care. Further, its utility in healthcare management for a wide range of complex health issues, including non-communicable diseases, which demand consistent advanced tailored attention, needs to be investigated. How broad, deep, and fine-grained is current telemedicine to support this kind of care model? Since technological progress never stops, telemedicine should develop hand-in-hand with this progress. Telemedicine in conventional medical practice is not about the technology, but rather the capability for change in healthcare and adaptation to the changed needs of patients with chronic disease. However, if future telemedicine will be successful, it should come as a result of the critical approach based on balance. Healthcare sector has to survive, improve and innovate when facing challenges as well.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 brought a new era of healthcare which required fast adaptation to telemedicine as an essential instrument to manage chronic conditions. This inevitable evolution has thus made the world more complex and full of opportunities. In a case of a chaotic epidemic, telemedicine became an interconnector among counties and ensured continuity of medical services for patients with chronic conditions. One of the benefits of telemedicine in dynamic environment was made possible by the system’s flexibility and convenience as it led to a continuous treatment delivery. But seeing this transformation with rose-colored glasses is mistaken. Despite numerous complications in ensuring widespread adoption of the technology, there are major challenges that must be addressed before integrating telemedicine into the system for chronic illness management. Significant barriers include access disparities, possible quality of care breaches, and patient’s privacy concerns. The issue on how telemedicine would fit in a pandemic stricken societal recovery will gain prominence on in the coming years. It became really important but it is now extremely vital to analyze how efficient it works, how flexible it really is, and how easily it can be implemented during normality. A summary of the intricate historic background on telemedicine during the pandemic can be thought of as a wake-up call for this literature review. This motivates health sector actors to look into the way telemedicine impacts the responsiveness, adaptability and centering on patients of the whole system with an eye to being better ready for the next challenges.
References
Bonnel, W., & Smith, K. V. (2014). Proposal writing for nursing capstones and clinical projects. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Garrard, J. (2017). Health sciences literature review made easy: The matrix method (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Henry, B. C., Laudat, T., Richards, S., Morebise, O., Phillip, C., & Toussaint, D. (2022). The use of telemedicine in the management of chronic diseases in Small Island Developing States: Case study–Dominica. https://www.itu.int/itu-d/sites/connect2recover/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2022/12/C2R_RC_13_The-use-of-telemedicine-in-the-management-of-chronic-diseases-in-Small-Island-Developing-States-R2.pdf
Moran, K., Burson, R., & Conrad, D. (2017). The doctor of nursing practice scholarly project: A framework for success (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Omboni, S., Ballatore, T., Rizzi, F., Tomassini, F., Panzeri, E., & Campolo, L. (2021). Telehealth at scale can improve chronic disease management in the community during a pandemic: An experience at the time of COVID-19. PLoS One, 16(9), e0258015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8480747/
Stachteas, P., Stachteas, C., Symvoulakis, E. K., & Smyrnakis, E. (2022). The Role of Telemedicine in the Management of Patients with Chronic Diseases in Primary Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Maedica, 17(4), 931. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9923072/
write