As a clinical educator in the adult care unit, choosing between a virtual sitter and a tele-wound consulting amenity is complicated. The community has an average age of 64 years, and thus most members are predisposed to falls, causing the need for a virtual sitter (Piau et al., 2019). Concurrently, there is a high prevalence of chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease in the selected area. Medical physicians associate these conditions with poor wound repair and therefore call for establishing a tele-wound consultative center. These two innovative medical services would be of significant benefit to the population. However, in the prevailing circumstances, the hospital has requested establishing one the state-of-the-art health amenities. Establishing a virtual sitter or wound consulting amenities requires a critical analysis of the communities needs and the impact each of the amenities would have on the community, health practitioners, and the hospital.
As the clinical instructor, I will prefer a tele-wound consultation center over a virtual sitter facility. The tele-wound amenity will involve the victim taking a photo or a video of the area affected by the laceration and sending it to a wound specialist. The wound specialist offers management advice to the patient on how to take care of the damage or visit the patient at their residence. The dilemmatic case would suggest why I would prefer such service over people of this age prone to falling. Piau et al. (2019) argue that more than a third of the patients aged 65 and above fall at least once a year compared. Medical practitioners associate falls with injuries in old-aged patients. However, the population has a high prevalence of diabetes, cardiovascular illness, and chronic pulmonary disease obstructive diseases. These diseases are associated with chronic lesions which do not quickly heal (Sharma et al., 2019). The establishment of a tele-wound service would help lesion care in this area and reduce the cost of the sick face to come to hospitals.
The effect diabetes, COPD, and hypertension have on wounds need greater medical attention as it claims many lives annually. Sharma et al. (2019) argue that foot disease is a significant cause of mortality in diabetic patients. Diabetes mellitus causes compromised immunity and affects the wound repair process in the elderly. These patients find it hard to walk to health centers, and thus the establishment of a tele-wound facility would help in better lesion care. COPD conditions such as emphysema and pneumonia, there is poor oxygen supply to the vital body organs (Rasch-Halvorsen et al., 2021). Oxygen assists in wound healing, and thus these patients experience a delayed laceration healing process. In many victims, diabetes occurs concurrently with hypertension, and these elderly individuals experience delayed wound healing. Building a tele-wound center would be more impactful than a virtual sitter center.
Starting a tele-wound center would be impactful to both the residents and the organization. It helps the professionals provide a remote assessment and management of chronic wounds (Goh, 2017). The system is clinically effective as it involves integrating technology to assist health personnel in managing patients’ wounds. The image quality and data provided by the patient can adequately help the clinician assess the damage. The patient benefits from the facility as they are not forced to visit the hospital; the doctor can evaluate the wounds through telecommunication. The sick’ person’s condition is managed by the practitioner even if they are geographically apart. The patient’s laceration healing rate would improve by incorporating this technological advancement.
The hospital management would incur high costs in building a modern tele-wound center, but the benefits outweigh the costs. Brain et al. (2019) argue that tele-wound care is cost-effective compared to the usual managing of lesions. The hospital needs to allocate funds from the annual operating budget to sustain the center. Technology is ever-changing, and this necessitates the purchase of more advanced and modern equipment that can help manage patient wounds virtually. Funds also need to be allocated for continued training of the health practitioners to keep them updated on the current damage assessment and consultation methods. Integrating modern technology into tele-wound management would significantly help control many patients’ wounds, thus increasing their satisfaction with the health system (Etingen et al., 2020). The sick develop the feeling that they are considered in the health care system even if geographically far apart from the doctor. The system has reduced the healing time, reduced wound-associated complications, and saved many patients’ travel costs (Etingen et al., 2019). The system has reduced the healing time, reduced wound-associated complications, and saved many patients’ travel costs. It would satisfy the employees with the system as they acknowledge they promote health through advanced technology.
The tele-wound center increases the flow of health services within the community. The system has reduced the healing time, reduced wound-associated complications, and saved many patients’ travel costs. The community develops an assurance in the healthcare system that the health practitioners care about them. The management of the tele-wound center majorly depends on the hospital in availing the resources such as capital and human labor to make the program successful. This method of wound control should be embraced by many hospitals globally as it aims at promoting health in the communities. Technology is developing, so hospitals should not be static on the traditional methods of clinical practice. The patients’ lesions heal quickly at a reduced clinical cost. It helps reduce the congestion of elder people suffering from chronic illness within the clinical setting.
References
Brain, D., Tulleners, R., Lee, X., Cheng, Q., Graves, N., & Pacella, R. (2019). Cost-effectiveness analysis of an innovative model of care for chronic wounds patients. PLOS ONE, 14(3), e0212366. Web.
Etingen, B., Patrianakos, J., Wirth, M., Hogan, T. P., Smith, B. M., Tarlov, E., Stroupe, K. T., Kartje, R., & Weaver, F. M. (2020). telewound practice within the veterans health administration: Protocol for a mixed methods program evaluation. JMIR Research Protocols, 9(7), e20139. Web.
Goh, L. J. (2017). Effectiveness of telemedicine for distant wound care advice towards patient outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis. International Archives of Nursing and Health Care, 3(2). Web.
Piau, A., Mattek, N., Crissey, R., Beattie, Z., Dodge, H., & Kaye, J. (2019). When will my patient fall? Sensor-based in-home walking speed identifies future falls in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 75(5), 968–973. Web.
Rasch-Halvorsen, Ø., Hassel, E., Brumpton, B. M., Jenssen, H., Spruit, M. A., Langhammer, A., & Steinshamn, S. (2021). Lung function and peak oxygen uptake in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease phenotypes with and without emphysema. PLOS ONE, 16(5), e0252386. Web.
Sharma, S., Schaper, N., & Rayman, G. (2019). Microangiopathy: Is it relevant to wound healing in diabetic foot disease?Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews, 36(S1). Web.