Telemedicine platforms enable persons to have increased access to healthcare services, which increases their outcomes and satisfaction with healthcare services and professionals. Through the use of virtual consultations, healthcare professionals can conduct regular check-ins with patients to discuss the issues they may have and to ensure medication adherence (Garber et al., 2023). This can also be an opportunity for APRNs to provide patient education on medication use, the importance of adherence, and the complications that come with medication interaction. Similarly, through technology, APRNs can use EHRs to track medications, prescriptions, and refills for their patients. Modern EHRs also help APRNs set up timers and alerts for patients to remind them that their medications and prescriptions could need to be refilled (Garber et al., 2023). Through technology and the integration of different systems, APRNs can monitor medication use and abuse through pharmacy prescription refills. This is able to make sure that opioids and other high-risk medications are not abused. The use of remote patient monitoring can ensure enhanced adherence, where non-adherence can be quickly identified and intervened, which can improve adherence rates (Garber et al., 2023). Similarly, it optimizes medication management, where dosages can be adjusted based on the patient’s reaction to education, which optimizes patient outcomes (Garber et al., 2023). Lastly, it enables patients to be active participants in their healthcare as they use the applications and tools used for monitoring. Patient engagement and active participation have been shown to have an increased impact on personal responsibility for one’s health.
The main impact of telemedicine on APRN practice is leveraged on efficiency and accessibility as telemedicine increases the reach of healthcare services to populations that are often underserved and remote. Coupling this with increased reaction to patients’ needs, telemedicine makes sure that the needs of patients are taken care of properly prior to any complications (Frey & Chiu, 2021). Again, it enables APRNs to make decisions based on data obtained from remote monitoring. Many times, the data obtained can be used to make informed decisions about the patient’s care, which can also be the basis for preventive care, which reduces the complications that the patient gets (Frey & Chiu, 2021). Similarly, telemedicine fosters and promotes interprofessional collaboration through EHR systems, which allows different healthcare providers to provide care for individual patients. This increases patient outcomes as care delivery is integrated and planned.
In conclusion, telemedicine is important to APRNs because of the increased patient care and access and continuity of care (Frey & Chiu, 2021). This expanded reach by patients enables APRNs to serve more patients, especially from underserved communities, which ensures continuity of care. Similarly, it enables APRNs to identify patient issues early, which increases the potential for disease treatment. On a team level, it increases efficiency and workflow as all healthcare providers and professionals can access patient data, which increases the time management and efficiency of healthcare teams (Frey & Chiu, 2021). It is important to note that all these are done to improve patient outcomes in the long run, especially for populations that are underserved.
