Telehealth

Virtual care delivers, manages, or coordinates health services through electronic information and digital telecommunication technologies. Telehealth nursing may occur in real time by telephone or video, through asynchronous review of submitted information, or through remote patient monitoring that transmits readings from the client’s home. The format can reduce transportation barriers and extend care to rural, homebound, or mobility-limited clients. It does not reduce the nurse’s professional responsibility. The same standards of practice, Code of Conduct, and privacy obligations apply as they do during in-person care. What changes is the available evidence. A video may show work of breathing, facial colour, mobility, speech, affect, or a wound, but it cannot provide palpation, auscultation, or a complete hands-on neurological examination. A home blood pressure, glucose, weight, or oxygen-saturation reading may help identify a trend, but the number is only as reliable as the device, technique, timing, and clinical context. The nurse therefore chooses telehealth because it is safe for the specific clinical question—not merely because it is convenient. A medication follow-up, symptom review, health teaching session, or review of home readings may...