Telehealth Care & Medical Alarms: The Ultimate Guide

Telehealth is the use of telecommunications systems to help people manage their health. There are many elderly health concerns that telehealth can address. People with ongoing diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure have had to rely on visiting a GP or hospital to be tested on a regular basis. With the advancement of technology and telehealth, it's possible to avoid lengthy hospital stays and elderly health concerns, and monitor wellbeing remotely. It has also meant that SureSafe alarms can develop devices such as medical alarms for the elderly and disabled, in fact, people of all ages. But how else can telehealth care help and would you or a loved one benefit from a personal alarm?

Telehealth is digital communication and devices that allows healthcare professionals to access health care services remotely to better manage one’s overall health care, and reduce elderly health concerns. Telehealth offers convenient health care access to people, as well as providing better access to health specialists, no matter where a patient is located.

It also offers support that allows a patient to monitor his or her care, whilst under the supervision of a doctor. From videoconferencing to providing biodata information, telehealth offers a wide range of services to better treat individuals.

Telehealth equipment allows patients to better care for themselves, whilst under the overall care of doctors. Equipment that automatically sends information to doctors can benefit patients who suffer from asthma, diabetes, or those with high blood pressure.

Each of those diseases requires equipment to test and monitor these conditions, for instance, those with high blood pressure can use a telehealth monitor to take their blood pressure and have the results sent to their GP. Of course, not every individual is able to benefit from telehealth, but you can get information about suitability from your GP.

Similarly, our range of medical alarm systems let you monitor a loved one. They can be used as an elderly personal alarm, an epilepsy alarm or make helpful seizure alarms. Whatever your health concern, you can be sure to connect to someone at just the touch of a button.

Telehealth, telemedicine, and telecare are all under the umbrella of e-medicine, which serves to better care and educate individuals through the internet and telecommunications. There are many other specific telehealth categories, such as telenutrition, telenursing, teleaudiology, and more, but those are generally specific to a certain branch of medicine.

Telehealth is far broader than telemedicine, as it refers not just to medical visits, but also education and administrative meetings. Most telehealth equipment allows people to better monitor ongoing chronic conditions via equipment that automatically sends readings to doctors.

Telemedicine is a subset of telehealth that specifically covers education and health care services from a distance. Most often used for follow-up visits or management of chronic conditions, telemedicine generally uses secure video calls and audio calls to better care for patients.

Telecare refers specifically to equipment that is used for telehealth that determines if there is an issue and sends an alert to a call centre or a family member. This can provide peace of mind to loved ones as it can reduce elderly health concerns. SureSafe medical alarms fall under this umbrella of telehealth. Once unfairly branded as an old people alarm, they are actually used by people of all ages. They provide help for anyone who is at risk of falling or needs an SOS pendant for a health condition. More and more, older people are using a medical alarm to help them keep an active lifestyle. This is especially true of the smartwatch style and GPS personal alarm.

Telehealth, telemedicine, and telecare are all under the umbrella of e-health. All telemedicine and telecare are telehealth, but not all telehealth is telemedicine or telecare. These devices offer a lifeline to the people who use them.

As we've seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has become even more important. The House of Commons noted on 11 March, 2020 that, “We have moved to a principle of “digital-first” in primary care and with out-patients: unless there are clinical or practical reasons, all consultations should be done by telemedicine.”

Wider Patient Reach

One of the biggest benefits of telehealth is that it expands care to better reach all individuals in need of care. Even with doctors being busier than ever due to a pandemic, telehealth allows for patients to be cared for in rural areas, as well as patients with chronic issues to be seen and cared for with the very best of care in a non-traditional way.

For us, a medical alarm, or lifeline alarms as they're sometimes known, can help to reduce elderly health concerns, stress or panic and put minds at ease. Even something as simple as a medical alarm pendant or a wrist worn fall detector can alert family members or trained response staff when needed.