Just recently the state of California has passed a new act called "the Telehealth Advancement Act of 2011". This an expansion of a 1996 Telemedicine Development Act. What this does is it allows health care professionals to be broadcasted to rural and underpriviledged communities in CA where there are limited health resources or barriers to healthcare access. This is a good a thing on one hand, but it makes me wonder that with time, more states will probably adopt acts like this due to same reasons and also economic reasons. And economically this makes sense because it is cheaper to do practice medicine like this. So with this said, how are we future pharmacists will fit into models like these? would it be good for the our profession overall and beneficial to the community? My answers I dont know and I sure hope so.
http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=B7241C2924AD4EF8BB3BAB1AEEB4E5B8
Very interesting news! I completely agree with you. I think it's a great way to help communities that do not have access to medical advantages. It does worry me that in the near future this type of way to deliver services will only hurt us future pharmacist. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteI would like to look at this article in an optimistic way, as a starting point of something bigger and more complete health care delivering. I think this whole broadcasting was an excellent idea because more people will have access to basic health care and at least some health related issues will be resolved. On the other hand, I think nothing can substitute a face to face interaction with a physician; it would be very beneficial not only to resolve acute situations, but also in educating population to manage chronic diseases (DM, HTN) and aim in the prevention of others (infections, AIDS, etc). It should never be forgotten that technology is not a substitution of human interactions, is just a tool to enhance, develop and apply our knowledge. A suggestion might be to send some residents in medicine willing to help necessitated people. I am sure there are people out there disposed to assist others.
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