The Top 10 Telemedicine Specialties in 2017

As Telemedicine specialties grow, it means more physicians have a new outlet for the patients they care for. The healthcare market is seeing the expansion of virtual healthcare services into areas beyond primary care.

Medical specialists have great potential for Telemedicine, and this has seen the rise of new telemedicine specialities whether for video consultations, data sharing or remote monitoring.

Here are the current Top 10 Telemedicine Specialties and Services that are offered by physicians today.


1) Teleaudiology

Tele-audiology is the utilization of Telemedicine to provide audiological services and may include the full scope of audiological practice.


2) Telecardiology

ECGs, or electrocardiographs, can be transmitted using telephone and wireless. Willem Einthoven, the inventor of the ECG, actually did tests with transmission of ECG via telephone lines. This was because the hospital did not allow him to move patients outside the hospital to his laboratory for testing of his new device. In 1906 Einthoven came up with a way to transmit the data from the hospital directly to his lab.


3) Teledermatology

Allows dermatology consultations over a distance using audio, visual and data communication, and has been found to improve efficiency. Applications comprise health care management such as diagnoses, consultation and treatment as well as (continuing medical) education.

4) Telenursing

The use of telecommunications and information technology in order to provide nursing services in health care whenever a large physical distance exists between patient and nurse, or between any number of nurses.


5) Teleophthalmology

A branch of Telemedicine that delivers eye care through digital medical equipment and telecommunications technology. Today, applications of Teleophthalmology encompass access to eye specialists for patients in remote areas, ophthalmic disease screening, diagnosis and monitoring; as well as distant learning.


6) Telepathology

The practice of pathology at a distance. It uses telecommunications technology to facilitate the transfer of image-rich Pathology data between distant locations for the purposes of diagnosis, education, and research. Performance of Telepathology requires that a pathologist selects the video images for analysis and the rendering diagnoses.


7) Telepharmacy

Telepharmacy is the delivery of pharmaceutical care via telecommunications to patients in locations where they may not have direct contact with a pharmacist. It is an instance of the wider phenomenon of Telemedicine and how it is being implemented in the field of pharmacy.

 

8) Telepsychiatry

Utilizes videoconferencing for patients residing in underserved areas to access psychiatric services. It offers wide range of services to the patients and providers. These include consultation between the psychiatrists, educational clinical programs, diagnosis and assessment, medication therapy management, and routine follow-up meetings.


9) Teleradiology

The ability to send radiographic images (Xrays, CT scans, etc) from one location to another. The most typical implementation are two computers connected via the Internet. The computer at the receiving end will need to have a high-quality display screen that has been tested and cleared for clinical purposes. Sometimes the receiving computer will have a printer so that images can be printed for convenience.


10) Telerehabilitiation

The delivery of rehabilitation services over telecommunication networks and the Internet. Most types of services fall into two categories: clinical assessment (the patient’s functional abilities in his or her environment), and remote clinical therapy.