Patients and health service providers report

Chapter Two
Telehealth provides a new platform for engagement between patients and health service providers. Maatta and colleagues, 2021). The enhanced value of flexibility and improved interaction between healthcare professionals and patients provide an ample chance to improve health outcomes. Communication is an important aspect of telehealth medical care because it increases operational flexibility in providing medical care to patients. Telehealth has unique benefits, such as the value of real-time care and different ways for the patient and the healthcare provider to interact.
Telehealth has imposed new operational values on health service professionals. The use of virtual platforms means the absence of traditional physical interaction between the doctor or public health official and the patient. So, the first step of telehealth was for healthcare professionals to get better at talking to each other (Morony et al., 2018). The goal is to improve communication skills so that care improves and patients get better health.
The challenges of virtual communication as experienced in telehealth differ from those of traditional physical consultation. Some patients find it hard to ask questions of the doctors. The challenge applies to some cases where the patients would remember a point or a question after the consultation. The patient might not want to return because it might be hard to get there or cause other problems (Maatta et al., 2021). Thus, communication using physical consultation is limited. However, telehealth offers a progressive and inclusive communication platform. One can re-engage the same doctor if they remember a point or idea that would be relevant to inform their diagnosis or related treatment. A patient can re-engage with the same doctor or healthcare professional at any instance.
Personal features and characteristics may lower the communication between the healthcare professional and the patient. For instance, a shy person may find it hard to request a check-up or provide requisite information to a male doctor in a physical consultation (Morony et al., 2018). However, the telehealth option would provide such a patient with the necessary opportunity to interact with a female professional. Even when such communication occurs between a female patient and a male healthcare professional, one cannot fear elements of privacy since there is a distance between the professional and the patient. In such light, telehealth enhances improved communication and the subsequent value of positive patient outcomes. Such values are critical in improving the overall patient experience.
Any interaction between the patient and the healthcare professional is critical in determining the health outcomes. In a study of 38 doctors, after assessing negative feedback from poor communication complaints by the patient, four conditions emerged as hallmarks of poor communication (Kee et al., 2018). Such elements included the insufficient quantity and quality of the information provided to the patients (Kee et al., 2018). Other elements included poor attitude and non-verbal communication as absent values among the healthcare providers. Although communication and effective assessment of the patient’s emotional status is critical in providing medical care, many young doctors fail to provide the right empathy to their patients.
Telehealth provides improved outcomes in comparison to the communication challenges detailed above. The complaints about non-verbal communication failures and lack of providing adequate information to the patient are core aspects associated with operating long working hours. Communication is part of the professional training for doctors (Kee et al., 2018). However, Weaver et al. (2021) indicate that human connection is critical in defining communication. The people’s attachment to physical communication and interaction is critical in understanding their perception of the telehealth intervention.
Health information has massive value if it is shared at the right time. Tel health provides options for patients to interact with healthcare professionals anytime. Timely communication is critical in improving the patient’s health outcomes. Tim ly communication means the patient can have a real-time engagement with the doctor or other health professionals (Gajarawala& Pelkowski, 2021). A medical issue is best communicated soon after it is discovered. The common trend to search for related information or pursue other views before seeking professional help may alter one’s self-description of a medical condition. However, telehealth offers patients opportunities to interact flexibly and inquire about any condition from a health expert. Such an option means telehealth’s flexible communication aids in effective communication outcomes.
Slightman et al. (2020) assess veterans’ perception of video visits. It is arguable that the elderly as disconnected from modern information communication technologies. However, telehealth offers diversity in approach to communication by providing text and video interaction. The study by Slightman et al. (2020) established that the environmental aspects would push many patients seeking health services to telehealth video rather than physical visits. The patients assessed in a study on veteran affairs (VA) experiences using video visits showed higher satisfaction levels than physical visits. The preference for the telehealth option was cited as inspired by the improved communication under the platform. The patients recorded flexibility and operational convenience as core values that improved overall satisfaction.
Communication was a major consideration in influencing veterans’ patient satisfaction levels. The video visits provided the patient with ample interaction time and necessary convenience. Such elements are critical in enhancing diversity and holistic approaches patients can adopt in framing their questions for healthcare professionals (Gajarawala& Pelkowski, 2021). The process would aid in progressively improving the patients’ health experiences. Eliminating the travel and logistics barrier provides the mental preparedness to interact with a healthcare professional and ask relevant questions. In such light, telehealth offers improved communication between the healthcare professional and the patient.
Patient experience is hinged on individual patient practices after the medical encounter with a healthcare professional. Tel health applies to different settings, including maternity, general health, and veterans. The use of reminders and notes to provide clarification of future medical appointments or scheduled medication is an enhanced communication feature under the telehealth option (Gajarawala& Pelkowski, 2021). The option means that individuals can have improved health outcomes through telehealth through progressive communication. In such light, communication directly improves the individual health experiences of the patients under telehealth.
Enhanced communication between the patient and the doctor means improved health outcomes. Using reference options in medical care provides immense value to the patient. An individual patient can refer to the messages available on a platform after communicating with the healthcare professional after the interaction. The option can mean an enhanced understanding of the critical needs of the patient (Slightman et al., 2020). Having a consultation or an interaction with a healthcare professional when one opts means improved mental preparedness. Such an element promotes ease of communication and enhanced consumer satisfaction.
Interestingly, telehealth exists among healthcare professionals. When a professional is looking for an intervention or interpretation of a medical feature beyond their area of expertise, they can use the telehealth option (Weaver et al., 2021). The standardization of medical terms improves the quality of communication between healthcare professionals. In instances where the healthcare professional has had an issue or wants a view from a more qualified professional, telehealth provides such an option, too (Gajarawala& Pelkowski, 2021). Such elements put communication at the heart of collaboration and teamwork in medical care. Virtual advice and guidance have helped improve overall health outcomes through surgeries and other related complex experiences.
Communication includes diverse elements, such as verbal and non-verbal cues. Tel health allows one to understand and get verbal and non-verbal cues from a patient as a medical professional (Gajarawala& Pelkowski, 2021). Relevant verbal and non-verbal communication applies in telehealth; the medical professional can consider them while assessing a patient’s health. Thus, one can argue that telehealth does not remove the diversity in communication elements reflected through physical visits (Slightman et al., 2020). Many patients have had psychological attachments to various experiences while in the hospital. Elements such as trauma or adverse experience attached to one’s past may hamper the information they provide to a healthcare professional. However, telehealth options provide a platform where one can interact with a healthcare professional without environmental or psychological barriers to communication in a hospital. Elements of convenience add weight to the value of telehealth in improving patient experience.

References
Gajarawala, S. N., & Pelkowski, J. N. (2021). Telehealth benefits and barriers. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 17(2), 218-221.
Kee, J. W., Khoo, H. S., Lim, I., & Koh, M. Y. (2018). Communication skills in patient-doctor interactions: learning from patient complaints. Health Professions Education, 4(2), 97-106.
Maatta, D., Daher, M., Lee, M. T., Sayani, S., Shishehbor, M., & Virani, S. S. (2021). Promise and perils of telehealth in the current era. Current cardiology reports, 23(9), 1-6.
Morony, S., Weir, K., Duncan, G., Biggs, J., Nutbeam, D., &Mccaffery, K. J. (2018). Enhancing communication skills for telehealth: developing and implementing a Teach-Back intervention for a national maternal and child health helpline in Australia. BMC health services research, 18(1), 1–9.
Slightam, C., Gregory, A. J., Hu, J., Jacobs, J., Gurmessa, T., Kimerling, R., … &Zulman, D. M. (2020). Patient perceptions of video visits using veterans affairs telehealth tablets: survey study. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(4), e15682.
Weaver, M. S., Lukowski, J., Wichman, B., Navaneethan, H., Fisher, A. L., & Neumann, M. L. (2021). Human and technology connectivity: a systematic review of available telehealth survey instruments. Journal of pain and symptom management, 61(5), 1042-1051.