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Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself

Telemedicine (TM)—the management of disease at a distance—has potential usefulness for patients with advanced respiratory disease. Underscoring this potential is the dramatic expansion of its applications in clinical medicine. However, since clinical studies testing this intervention often provide h...

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Autores principales: Vitacca, Michele, Scalvini, Simonetta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35054515
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life12010122
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author Vitacca, Michele
Scalvini, Simonetta
author_facet Vitacca, Michele
Scalvini, Simonetta
author_sort Vitacca, Michele
collection PubMed
description Telemedicine (TM)—the management of disease at a distance—has potential usefulness for patients with advanced respiratory disease. Underscoring this potential is the dramatic expansion of its applications in clinical medicine. However, since clinical studies testing this intervention often provide heterogeneous results, its role in the medical management of respiratory disorders remains inconclusive. A major problem in establishing TM’s effectiveness is that it is not a single intervention; rather, it includes a number of divergent diagnostic and therapeutic modalities—and each must be tested separately. Reflecting the discord between the need for further documentation of its approaches and effectiveness and its rapid utilization without this needed information, a major challenge is the lack of international guidelines for its integration, regulation, operational plans, and guidance for professionals. Tailored TM, with increased flexibility to address differing healthcare contexts, has the potential to improve access to and quality of services while reducing costs and direct input by health professionals. We should view TM as a tool to aid healthcare professionals in managing their patients with respiratory diseases rather than as a stand-alone substitute to traditional medical care. As such, TM is a means rather than an end.
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spelling pubmed-87778802022-01-22 Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself Vitacca, Michele Scalvini, Simonetta Life (Basel) Communication Telemedicine (TM)—the management of disease at a distance—has potential usefulness for patients with advanced respiratory disease. Underscoring this potential is the dramatic expansion of its applications in clinical medicine. However, since clinical studies testing this intervention often provide heterogeneous results, its role in the medical management of respiratory disorders remains inconclusive. A major problem in establishing TM’s effectiveness is that it is not a single intervention; rather, it includes a number of divergent diagnostic and therapeutic modalities—and each must be tested separately. Reflecting the discord between the need for further documentation of its approaches and effectiveness and its rapid utilization without this needed information, a major challenge is the lack of international guidelines for its integration, regulation, operational plans, and guidance for professionals. Tailored TM, with increased flexibility to address differing healthcare contexts, has the potential to improve access to and quality of services while reducing costs and direct input by health professionals. We should view TM as a tool to aid healthcare professionals in managing their patients with respiratory diseases rather than as a stand-alone substitute to traditional medical care. As such, TM is a means rather than an end. MDPI 2022-01-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8777880/ /pubmed/35054515 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life12010122 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Vitacca, Michele
Scalvini, Simonetta
Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself
title Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself
title_full Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself
title_fullStr Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself
title_full_unstemmed Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself
title_short Telemedicine as a Means to an End, Not an End in Itself
title_sort telemedicine as a means to an end, not an end in itself
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35054515
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life12010122
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