ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Telenursing, that part of eHealth relating to nursing, is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to transmit data relevant to any aspect of nursing activity, encompassing many activities, such as triage, teleconsultations, home care, education, and research. After a definition and explanation of telenursing, a short history of the field is given. The recent expansion of nursing responsibilities worldwide has been accompanied by the steady growth of nurses’ power to manage patients, exemplified by the nurse practitioner, and all this is shown to be strongly supported by telenursing. It is cost effective and its applications have rapidly increased in number and variety over the last two decades, in parallel with the increasing power and decreasing price of the necessary ICT equipment. An account of relevant ICT, examples of the wide range of telenursing’s clinical activities, and its important role in education, especially in developing countries, are presented. Ethical considerations arising from telenursing are outlined. It is concluded that use of telenursing has increased rapidly because it is a most powerful and cost-effective modality, significantly improving the healthcare provided by the nursing professionals.
