Tuesday, March 6, 2012

THE IMPORTANCE OF TELENURSING




Nurses are a central part of the use of technologies in health care. As such, telenursing is not a new role for nurses. There is evidence of existence of the role of telenurses for more than 25 years. In fact, any nurse who has provided guidance, education, or lab results over the telephone has taken part in telenursing. However, telenursing can also include more sophisticated systems than the telephone, such as two-way audio and video systems, Internet, satellite, and other communication systems.


TELENURSING refers to the use of telecommunications and information technology for providing nursing services in health care whenever a large physical distance exists between patient and nurse, or between any number of nurses.

 

 
Efficient telephone advice nursing is one way of managing limited resources in healthcare. It is cost efficient, timesaving and increases patients’ ability to self-care. In many Western countries telenursing is an expanding part of healthcare
. Telenursing work is complex and knowledge-intensive. The nurses should be able to work independently, make decisions about the caller’s need for further care, give advice on self-care or refer the caller to the appropriate source of help. When telenurses triage callers’ conditions, their assessments are based on verbal communication. This demands a high level of communication skills and the ability to listen. One of the major problems for telenurses is that they cannot see the patients. They feel considerable responsibility and they fear making wrong decisions. Furthermore, telenurses may perceive the contact with patients in telephone advice nursing as a conflict between being a care provider and a gatekeeper.









No comments:

Post a Comment