The Future of Home Nursing Trends and Developments to Watch
- Admin
- 08 November, 2023
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Digitization has impacted all of our lives in multiple ways. From purchasing groceries to working from home, technology has been making our lives easier with every passing day. This has given a boost to the healthcare industry, too. Thanks to modern technology, doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals across the globe are able to offer better medical care to their patients. This makes the future of home nursing look really bright.
Home nursing is a service that involves diagnosing and treating patients from the comfort of their homes. It prevents patients from leaving their homes and making physical visits to hospitals. Many doctors worldwide send their qualified assistants and nurses to their patients to provide holistic medical care to them.
Over time, the need and relevance for home nursing services have increased. More and more patients and their loved ones ask doctors for these services to heal with the utmost comfort. Modern home nursing services are designed to convert a patient’s home into a mini hospital. Healthcare professionals do their best to bridge the gap between treating a patient at home and taking them to a hospital.
Looking at the increasing popularity of home nursing services, it is safe to say that they will be around for quite some time. Digitally and otherwise, the domain is evolving to make the patients’ lives better. Advancements in the industry are persuading patients and their loved ones to seek home nursing services for a range of different health complications.
Let us have a look at a few major trends and developments in the field you should watch out for:
Doctor On Call services are digital extensions of tele-healthcare. They allow patients to have their doctors attend to them without leaving their houses. Instead of visiting the nearest hospital, a patient can simply make a call and have a doctor diagnose and/or treat them at home.
In most cases, doctors offer these services beyond their usual visiting hours at the hospitals. Even the busiest doctors take some time out of their schedules to attend to their patients. They send their representatives (qualified assistants and nursing staff) to their patients’ houses with them being available on call. This makes remote healthcare more accessible and convenient for patients who cannot leave their houses to receive medical care. Doctor on Call services also relieve patients from waiting for several hours at hospitals by bringing doctors right to their rooms!
Over the last couple of years, AI and machine learning have dominated the global IT industry. Organizations operating in almost all sectors have started incorporating these technologies into their offerings to enhance their services. The home nursing domain also uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide better and more reliable medical care to patients.
Software solutions and tools equipped with these technologies allow doctors to measure their patients’ vitals in real-time without meeting them physically. From heart rate to blood pressure, doctors can track all necessary details about patients using modern applications. Whenever needed, the nursing staff visiting a patient’s house can send this information to the concerned doctor in real time for a seamless experience. This makes the patient feel as if the consultation is happening in person.
Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning also help home nursing staff provide holistic medical care without the doctor’s intervention. Modern healthcare software tools are capable of taking basic updates and assessing them to give personalized reports to patients.
With AI and machine learning entering the mainstream conversation, niche technologies like AR (alternate reality), VR (virtual reality), and mixed reality are also making their way into the home nursing domain. These technologies help patients receive real-time consultations by mimicking a doctor’s cabin. Instead of visiting a doctor in person, a patient can interact with them through an AR/VR tool that creates a simulation. This simulation also helps the doctor explain critical matters to their patient, bridging the gap created by physical distance.
Apart from patient consultations, these technologies are also being used to train nursing staff. Home nursing services can get really tricky and need complete precision to perform several procedures. By mimicking real-world scenarios and creating extensive simulations, doctors can train their nursing staff to take good care of their patients in their absence.
While these technologies are still at their nascent stage, tech and healthcare experts are working to extract maximum benefits from them. In the years to come, home nursing services across the globe will be using more and more of these technologies to ensure seamless medical care.
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has already started making waves in the healthcare sector after COVID-19, and it is here to stay. As the name suggests, it is a service that allows patients to be monitored by their doctors and nursing staff without making physical visits. Depending on the health complication, a patient’s specific conditions like blood pressure, sleep apnea, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, etc. are tracked by healthcare professionals.
Remote patient monitoring often forms the core of home nursing services. When a patient is looked after by a nursing staff on a short-term or long-term basis, RPM becomes necessary for doctors to stay updated with their health. Especially in the case of critical patients, doctors and their assistants are constantly monitoring their vitals to prevent conditions from worsening.
Over the last few years, wearables have taken the global tech industry by storm. Every second person we meet has a smartwatch on. The same technology is also used in the healthcare sector to track a patient’s health. While resting at their home, a patient can wear such a device whose details can be seen by their doctor on their screens. Modern software solutions make it possible for doctors to be aware of their patients’ health by taking real-time readings throughout the day.
From calories burned and sleeping hours to blood pressure and heart rhythm, wearables measure several aspects of a patient’s health for them to be treated by their doctors remotely. These details also help the nursing staff at home to take necessary actions depending on the patient’s health.
Home nursing is not a passive activity for patients anymore. In 2023, patients are willing to stay informed about their health and in sync with the doctors they consult. For this, patient portals come in handy. These portals allow patients to track their health and feel included in the treatment procedure.
Patient portals are dedicated online platforms where patients can obtain detailed information about their health and access electronic health records. From the day they start a consultation, they can have access to all details logged into their portal and monitor their health with their doctors. Patient portals also contain information about a patient’s appointments, medications, tests, and their results.
By tracking their records and staying in tune with their treatment procedures, these portals help patients build healthy relationships with their doctors. While receiving holistic treatment at home, a patient can stay informed instead of asking the nursing staff about everything.
More and more patients and their loved ones are opting for home nursing services over time. Now that we know the trends prevalent in the industry, let us understand why people are switching to these services:
People tend to get weaker with age and their ability to make regular hospital visits deteriorates. Under such circumstances, falling ill adds insult to injury. Home nursing services help such patients receive complete and effective medical care without heading out of their homes. Home nursing staff is always mindful of the sensitivity involved in treating elderly patients.
If a patient lives in a remote location with the nearest hospital being several miles away, home nursing often proves to be the most feasible option. Instead of traveling to a hospital multiple times, a patient can receive the same treatment at home.
If a patient encounters a medical emergency that requires immediate action, home nursing and Doctor on Call services ensure that they get primary medical attention before reaching the nearest hospital. Here, a patient can have immediate access to a doctor through virtual communication.
If you are looking for comprehensive home nursing services that are tailored to the patient’s holistic needs, Docville gives you a team of trained healthcare professionals for the same. Our team of doctors and nursing staff adhere to all the latest industry trends and use tools equipped with modern technologies. We look after your loved ones and help them heal while they relax in their houses. With Docville, you get 24/7 access to physicians and a team of experienced medical experts with a few simple clicks!
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