The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how many things are approached, but one of the major areas of improvement is coded in virtual healthcare platforms, also known as telemedicine. As the world dealt with the consequences of a global pandemic, it became imperative to limit in-person contact with others who may be carriers of the disease and physicians who may have treated sick patients. Therefore, the need for an alternative form of healthcare increases with each test that came back positive for COVID-19. This was especially true for immunocompromised patients who struggle due to a weakened ability to fight off infections. Care was becoming harder and harder to obtain as James Connelly adds, “Unfortunately, the need to implement social…show more content… Another example of more advanced treatment that telemedicine has supported during the pandemic and grown from was the use of virtual care in the follow-up of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Therapy. A study was conducted by physicians Arpita Gandhi and Catherine Lee to focus on how they could apply their resources to continue to care for patients stating, “The care of long-term survivors of allogeneic (allo) HCT with complications.required a transition to telemedicine, as their immunosuppressive treatments put them at high risk for COVID-19 infection and illness” (2023, p. 2). Small groups of patients were given their treatments in outpatient facilities and then discharged the day after to continue aftercare treatment and monitoring from their homes. Advanced practice providers visited the patient at home daily to do a physical examination and draw some blood for testing, and this was all done while on a telemedicine call with the attending physician supervising the whole…show more content… However, Lie Yen and Gilbert Octavius argue the disadvantages of healthcare stating, “This [telemedicine] can be a barrier for the patient to receive consultation properly” (2021, p. 183). In other words, the patient may not feel heard during the telemedicine appointment, which creates problems regarding treatment and the way to proceed (Yen Hwei & Octavius, 2021, p. 183). Moreover, many other dependent factors such as disease severity, age, treatment plan, finances, and travel distance may influence one’s comfort and success with current telemedicine platforms. Although telemedicine is still taking its first steps in health care, visits over the phone or computer are becoming more and more of the standard of care for follow-up appointments. All of the flaws and gaps in knowledge have not yet been identified, but professionals are working to make it as accommodating to as many individuals as possible and fill those gaps with factual information to better the
