It is one of the tools provided by the Pnrr to imagine the healthcare of the future, but the telemedicine in Italy it still needs to be optimized.
To begin with, digital health services are mainly frequented by the ppopulation who are between 31 and 44 years old and live in a large city. Yet, these possibilities should be especially of interest to people who live in smaller, more isolated urban centers.
Among those interviewed by the Foundation’s Observatory for Digital Sustainability, more or less 80% recognized how digitalization has improved the patient experience. He also stressed, however, that would prefer to abandon these services now that the pandemic is over.
Even generation Z is more inclined to in-person visits and exams and only 30% of those interviewed assiduously use the electronic health record, although 84% admitted that consulting their data through this channel presents various advantages.
telemedicine to help doctors
But the point is that medicine is not simply the solution to a problem, i.e. illness: 80% of the people who responded to the survey attribute to it a social functionespecially when patients are elderly, disabled or frail.
Therefore telemedicine cannot replace the doctor, but it can make his presence more effective and make up for the shortcomings which unfortunately increase from year to year.
We also have an example of this in Piacenza area: in the municipalities of Alta Val Trebbia there are only 3 general practitioners and one medical guard. In Val d’Arda, the Fiorenzuola emergency room is still open only 12 hours a day.
TO Ischia they had a similar problem: fewer and fewer general practitioners and no one to take over for those who were retiring. The Campania Region has set up a network for the exchange of data, images, documents and video calls, so that the inhabitants of the island never feel abandoned. A service that is especially useful for those living with chronic diseases who need constant monitoring.
And here they come to help wearables, wearable or implantable devices, which constantly monitor the patient’s data and send an alert to the nearest healthcare facility in the event of a risky alternation of values.
Today telemedicine and teleconsultation are routinely used by almost 40% of family doctors and half of specialists. At least according to what the Polytechnic of Milan found.
Thanks to these tools it is possible to imagine networking hospitals, doctors and the territory to assist patients and promote prevention.
help to disadvantaged areas
Then why not use it to assist small mountain communities and encourage an increase in tourism?
From this perspective, it is already being tested in alpine refuges, to improve the rescue service. A project that started at the end of 2023 in 10 facilities in the Belluno area which made it possible to train refugee workers in the use of devices that make the 118 service is smarter. In fact, in the event of an accident or illness of a person at high altitude, the refugee will be able to connect directly with a base station and, through smart glasses, the operator will assist him in taking charge of the person until the air ambulance arrives.
In the province of Piacenza alone there are 200 family doctors for twenty thousand patients. The result is a workload too large for a single person.
Telemedicine could take over precisely this difficulty.
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