Conceptualizing Telehealth in Nursing Practice

Abstract

Increasingly nurses use various telehealth technologies to deliver health care services; however, there has been a lag in research and generation of empirical knowledge to support nursing practice in this expanding field. One challenge to generating knowledge is a gap in development of a comprehensive conceptual model or theoretical framework to illustrate relationships of concepts and phenomena inherent to adoption of a broad range of telehealth technologies to holistic nursing practice. A review of the literature revealed eight published conceptual models, theoretical frameworks, or similar entities applicable to nursing practice. Many of these models focus exclusively on use of telephones and four were generated from qualitative studies, but none comprehensively reflect complexities of bridging nursing process and elements of nursing practice into use of telehealth. The purpose of this article is to present a review of existing conceptual models and frameworks, discuss predominant themes and features of these models, and present a comprehensive conceptual model for telehealth nursing practice synthesized from this literature for consideration and further development. This conceptual model illustrates characteristics of, and relationships between, dimensions of telehealth practice to guide research and knowledge development in provision of holistic person-centered care delivery to individuals by nurses through telehealth technologies.

Perspectives of Nurses Toward Telehealth Efficacy and Quality of Health Care: Pilot Study

“…Any researcher who may consider telehealth nursing for future research should consider taking this survey to a larger number of telehealth nursing professionals; this will give quantitative validity. Comparisons with other nations such as Norway in Europe, where telehealth implementation is successful, would be of interest for research purposes [ 26 ].…”

Registered nurse and midwife experiences of using videoconferencing in practice: A systematic review of qualitative studies

“…This challenges how nurses and midwives have traditionally practised and the meaning associated with being in a physical presence with patients. "Knowing the patient," integral to clinical judgement and decision-making in nursing practice, has been traditionally grounded in a physical proximity to patients (Nagel & Penner, 2016;Nagel et al, 2013) and characterises the uniqueness of nursing work (May, 1992;Tanner, Benner, Chesla, & Gordon, 1993). A similar proximity to women, being "with women," (Skinner, 2006, p. 65) is a fundamental component of maternity care.…”

“…Competencies that are necessary for telehealth practice include skills in assessment, communication and relational practice (Nagel & Penner, 2016). Elements of training that may enhance these competencies could include the following: how to set the context for con- (Bradford et al, 2014;Niemi et al, 2016).…”

Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Nursing Care: Results of an Overview of Systematic Reviews

“…The features (eg, copy and paste, electronic interface, drop-down menus) of electronic nursing documentation may affect critical thinking and accuracy of documentation [8]. Telehealth technologies are another example, which include a wide range of ICTs such as remote patient monitoring, videoconferencing, and computer-mediated communications [9]. In the case of remote patient monitoring (telemonitoring), nurses must be able to process a large quantity of data from the system (eg, vital signs, symptoms) and then use clinical decision skills to respond properly to each patient’s condition [10].…”