ABSTRACT
Medical and health services can be improved by advanced technological development. Technology will not only optimise health care service management but also diagnostic processes in the clinical settings, as well as care in the community. In a large territory, telehealth is essential for health care delivery from the physicians to patients, especially the chronically ill. With these telehealth initiatives, patients do not need to travel for medical consultations. In a nursing home, unexpected face-to-face medical consultation to the elderly is at times difficult to be arranged and, very often, emergency service is most likely to be requested even if the situation is not that urgent. Telehealth can alleviate the overuse of emergency service for certain medical conditions by providing immediate consultation for elderly people in a nursing home. Furthermore, telehealth may sustain regular medical follow up, more so in time of a local outbreak or infectious pandemics when direct and social contact is avoided, particularly with the older adults. Nevertheless, the implementation of telehealth in a small territory such as Hong Kong is underdeveloped because of convenient transportation for patients, insufficient telehealth service providers and the lack of interest among health professionals. To promote telehealth for community care, acceptability and affordability of the stakeholders, availability of hardware and expertise, and accessibility and quality of telehealth services are all fundamental. Technology adoption to the community health settings, including nursing homes and clinics, can enhance the acceptability and facilitate the utilisation of telehealth in the community. This chapter discusses the development of telehealth in different countries, such as Germany, the United States, Iceland and Hong Kong, based on a case study approach. We aim to illustrate practical strategies for better and universal application of telehealth in the community setting.
