April 12, 2023
Some people might be surprised to learn that not all telehealth involves health practitioners speaking to their patients on a video call in real-time. Clinicians and patients can also benefit from asynchronous telehealth.
With asynchronous telehealth there is a delay between the patients input and the subsequent guidance from a healthcare professional. This is different from synchronous telehealth like video consults and phone calls, which require the clinician and the patient to be available simultaneously.
Asynchronous telehealth improves health outcomes by making it easier for patients to engage with remote care plans. The easier we make it for patients to engage, the better their adherence, and the better the outcomes.
Here’s how Spritely helps clinicians to maximise adherence using a suite of asynchronous telehealth features to support their care remotely:
Spritely has secure messaging baked into the application. Patients and clinicians can communicate directly via text without using their own phones. This is super convenient as it enables quick check-ins when this is appropriate and saves time compared to a video call. Message threads can be seen by other members of the care team if they have permission, and this is important for continuity of care.
Spritely enables the delivery of health surveys to help manage individual and population health. Surveys can be easily created using our drag and drop interface then delivered to one or many patients. Surveys can be triggered (in the event of a high health vital reading) or scheduled (to create regular check-ins). Surveys generate rich, patient-reported data over time, and this can be analysed and acted upon to improve patient health outcomes.
With Spritely, clinicians can deliver curated digital content to patients at a cadence they control. Scheduled content can include articles and videos that help with patient education. Patients who are more educated about their health tend to be more engaged with their treatment plan and this can drive better outcomes for them and the wider health system.
Vital monitoring is most efficient when it is managed by patients asynchronously. If patients know how to take measurements correctly and devices are clinically validated, then clinicians can review the data with confidence at a time that suits them. Triggered alerts and surveys linked to workflows can be used to escalate results that need urgent attention.
Patients with a Spritely tablet can use our call-back feature to schedule a call with their clinician if they want to speak about anything. Requesting a call-back creates a workflow that helps clinicians to schedule and prioritise video consultations. This greatly improves the efficiency of telemonitoring.
Asynchronous telehealth features help clinicians to manage their workload better. They can use stored data to triage people and allocate their time, so the highest priority patients get real-time consultations first. Telehealth platforms need to do more than just enable video calls. Asynchronous telehealth features are good for patients, good for clinicians and they make telemonitoring more efficient, which is good for the health system.
Spritely customers, such as St John, have seen a big boost in patient engagement because of things like patient health surveys. If you are a healthcare provider that wants to remotely monitor patients efficiently and effectively, then get in touch with Spritely.
Spritely’s equity-led telemonitoring platform combines the benefits of video consultation with a range of asynchronous telehealth features to drive improved health outcomes for patients and better efficiency for healthcare providers.
