The advent of the digital era changed everything, including healthcare. One such advancement in the medical world is telemedicine. Given that it is the future, and here to stay, researchers are assessing the impact of telemedicine on patient registry studies.
Telemedicine allows remote health services to patients all around the world without an in-person visit. This concept has existed for quite some time, but it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Covid-19 really propelled telemedicine. Telemedicine uses electronic audio and video technology to pave the way for the management of serious and/or infectious conditions like Covid-19, follow-up visits, and general consultation.
Analyzing the Impact of Telemedicine on Patient Registry Studies
Telemedicine is set to have several positive implications for the healthcare industry, one aspect of which are patient registry studies. Patient registry studies collect observational data about how patients react to medical tests, drugs, and treatments in normal settings without any control group receiving a placebo.
Proper Diagnosis
Many people self-diagnose to avoid going to the doctor. They might delay a visit and start self-medicating for a disease or condition. A patient registry study would lose out another patient, another set of data that could help them make a difference.
With telemedicine, people can access healthcare right from the comfort of their homes. They will receive a proper diagnosis, and their information (patient history, effects of treatment, etc.) can then be easily recorded.
Better Follow-up Results
Several patients dealing with a specific condition or disease in remote areas find it hard to travel great distances to receive good treatment. As a result of this inconvenience, they often delay or skip follow-up visits and appointments altogether. This does not only have dire implications for the patient’s health, but also for the data collected in patient registry studies.
With the convenience of telemedicine, patients can receive follow-up treatment and the effects of treatment can be fully recorded for patient registry studies. This can help researchers receive consistent information from the time a patient starts receiving treatment until after some time has passed.
Patient Data Beyond Geographical Borders
Patient registries are crucial, but they often have one complaint. Patient registry studies find it challenging to assimilate and collect data on patients from different demographics and geographical locations. These differences can have a significant impact on the quality of data. For example, it might reveal how a certain ethnicity reacts better to a specific treatment.
Telemedicine helps to bridge geographical boundaries and pave the way for more varied data. Patient registry studies can greatly improve their efficacy when this data comes from patients of different backgrounds.
Conclusion
Telemarketing is the future of healthcare, and it will have a positive impact on patient registry studies. This information can then help medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and doctors understand the etiology and the progression of a disease, develop more effective drugs and relay better treatment to patients respectively. This, in turn, will improve healthcare and patient care across the country.
