DIGITAL HEALTH AND TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS IN RURAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE

Abstract

Digital health should be added to the rural emergency medicine to provide clinical work optimization, respondctions time, and patient outcomes enhancing in the regions lacking sufficient medical care.  In this study, there were qualitative and quantitative research designs; the researchers examined how real-time tele-consultation impacted six rural emergency departments, prioritizing some cases that required immediate care such as stroke, sepsis, and myocardial infarction.  A quantitative study on 284 telemedicine-linked encounters indicated that total time acquired to secure treatment diminished by an average of 34 percent and time to secure counseling decreased by 42 percent subsequent to the framework set in place.  Using the calculated efficiencies (E gain) gain and the logistic regression based modeling, it was found that the reduction in response time had a very strong correlation with the improved patient stabilization and reduction in 30-day readmission rates (p < 0.01).  Meanwhile, qualitative interviews of 48 physicians in rural areas identified similar patterns of more cooperation between disciplines, increased trust in clinical expertise and such applied issues as inability to implement technology and internet availability.  Thematic analysis revealed that the perception of providers with regard to outcomes trends was congruent. This indicates the crudeness of readjusting workflow and training the staff.  The methodological workflow (Figure 1) explains how all should contribute to ensuring that telehealth is successful, including digital triage, clinical data and the feedback systems.  These findings demonstrate how telemedicine may transform eventualities in intense areas in an emergency case and provide a model of boosting the digital care in resource-scarce areas.