Aftercare is highly important for patients, and there's no denying it. As reported by the University of Pennsylvania, 40% of Medicare beneficiaries receive post-treatment to gain full recovery from their illnesses.
Take the example of a patient who had arthroscopic shoulder surgery. To fully recover from the pain and ensure muscle flexibility, the patient needs to adopt a lifestyle marked by regular shoulder rehabilitation exercises. This will require follow-up visits to the doctor, which might be inconvenient for the patient due to their busy life.
Additionally, follow-up visits, no matter how frequent, do not offer ongoing support between appointments, which is crucial for managing a condition that required going under the knife. The patient can experience acute or chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP), and waiting for an in-person appointment will only increase it.
Healthcare providers often find patients struggling with post-treatment compliance and adherence due to various challenges. This non-compliance takes the form of missed follow-ups, decreased patient engagement, and other issues, such as postoperative complications.
This is where a video healthcare platform for aftercare becomes essential. The patient who went through the surgery can easily access videos related to shoulder exercises that help them recover faster and ensure that the muscles keep moving and do not become stiff. This will enhance patient care, resulting in patient satisfaction, which, in turn, benefits the healthcare provider. This all can happen without the patient leaving the comfort of their home.
In this blog, we will discuss the challenges in patient post-treatment compliance and adherence and how a video healthcare platform enhances the aftercare experience and improves patient outcomes. So, without any further ado, let's start with the challenges in patient post-treatment compliance.
The communication between the patient and the physician should be careful since it is a matter of life and death. While effective communication is vital for patient recovery and better patient outcomes, several challenges prevent patient post-treatment compliance and adherence. These challenges are discussed as follows:
Healthcare service providers frequently deal with overloaded schedules, limiting the time available to explain post-treatment care thoroughly to their patients. This leads to rushed explanations or incomplete discharge and aftercare instructions. As a result, patients leave without a clear understanding of their recovery plan, increasing the likelihood of mistakes, such as improper wound care, missed medications, or incorrect physical exercises.
Patients often struggle to remain engaged with their aftercare plans, especially once they leave the structured environment of a healthcare facility where care is provided 24/7 by the medical staff. This disengagement can lead to poor adherence to recovery protocols, resulting in complications and potential readmissions. Without regular and clear follow-up communication, patients may forget essential instructions or fail to notice early signs of complications.
Language differences and accessibility challenges can create barriers between healthcare providers and patients, especially in diverse populations or among individuals with disabilities. When aftercare instructions are unclear or unavailable in a patient's preferred language, they are less likely to follow through correctly, leading to preventable complications.
For patients with conditions that require constant monitoring, such as diabetes or heart disease, the lack of real-time support between follow-up appointments can be problematic. Without ongoing access to healthcare professionals, patients may not adjust their medications or treatment plans as needed, which can delay recovery and result in hospital readmissions. However, doctors can't maintain ongoing communication with virtually every patient.
A video healthcare platform for aftercare offers a centralized solution to overcome these challenges by providing secure, accessible, and effective ways for patients and healthcare providers to connect. The following are some of the ways in which a healthcare video platform improves patient aftercare:
On-demand access to aftercare video resources allows patients to view educational content related to their recovery process at any time. By accessing the platform, patients can access videos that provide detailed guidance on essential post-treatment care, such as wound care, medication administration, or prescribed physical exercises.
This level of accessibility ensures that patients do not have to rely solely on in-person visits. They can take control of their full recovery without depending on their doctor. Additionally, the video content serves as a long-term resource, allowing patients to revisit the instructions whenever they need reinforcement. This capability helps them stay on track with their treatment plan, reinforcing their understanding of the steps needed for a successful recovery.
Video healthcare platforms for aftercare often feature interactive elements, such as quizzes and forms, to assess patients' understanding of their aftercare instructions. Moreover, they also offer additional resources like document handouts that complement the video content. These tools help ensure patients fully understand the care steps they need to follow.
By monitoring patient interactions with video content and quizzes, healthcare providers can ensure that patients know how to take care of themselves once discharged from the hospital.
Healthcare video platforms for aftercare ensure data privacy by complying with HIPAA, a US law that sets strict standards for protecting sensitive patient information, particularly electronic health data.
Moreover, a video platform for healthcare enables healthcare service providers to manage access by defining permissions for media content. This allows multiple authenticated users, such as different healthcare staff or family caregivers, to access the platform securely.
By controlling access levels, providers ensure only authorized individuals can view or interact with sensitive patient information, such as consultation recordings. This ensures compliance with privacy regulations while maintaining secure and ongoing communication throughout recovery.
A video platform for healthcare is designed to be accessible, offering multilingual support and features that cater to patients with disabilities. This ensures that all patients can effectively engage with their aftercare resources.
For instance, a video healthcare platform offers automatic transcription and translation of audio and video content so that patients with hearing impairment can understand aftercare procedures using the generated closed captions (CC).
A video healthcare platform offers many benefits in the realm of healthcare. Some of the benefits are discussed as follows:
A video healthcare platform for aftercare significantly enhances patient satisfaction by offering easily accessible, clear, and digestible video content that patients can revisit at their convenience. This flexibility enables patients to better understand their aftercare instructions, improving adherence to recovery plans.
A study revealed that patients who accessed on-demand educational videos reported high confidence levels in managing their post-procedure care, with survey ratings averaging between 5.5 and 5.75 on a 6-point scale. Interactive features like quizzes and progress checks ensure patients stay engaged and retain critical recovery information.
A report indicates that up to 75% of hospital readmissions could be prevented with better patient education and communication, especially with tools like video healthcare platforms. By providing aftercare guidelines to patients through video content, a video healthcare platform for aftercare helps healthcare providers reduce hospital readmissions and prevent complications.
Patients can access timely guidance on managing their recovery, recognizing warning signs, and adhering to treatment plans. Regular touchpoints through video consultations and reminders significantly reduce patients' chances of missing crucial aftercare steps, which can otherwise lead to complications and readmissions.
A video platform for healthcare reduces the need for healthcare personnel to travel to remote patients for aftercare. Instead of dedicating staff to visit or stay with patients, such as home health nurses, the hospital could deliver aftercare remotely through videos. This efficiency in resource management allows healthcare providers to optimize their staff allocation, reducing the operational costs associated with traveling and patient supervision.
A video healthcare platform for aftercare simplifies patient aftercare by centralizing all video content, making it easier to deliver consistent follow-up instructions. This not only saves time but also allows healthcare service providers to manage a larger patient base more efficiently. Additionally, integrating analytics and tracking tools enables healthcare professionals to assess patient engagement and identify those needing additional support. More on analytics in the next paragraph.
Video healthcare platforms provide granular analytics to track patients' engagement with aftercare video content. For example, healthcare service providers can see how much of a video was watched, what sections were revisited, and how well patients performed on quizzes. This data allows healthcare professionals to identify patients struggling with their recovery plan and offer additional support, ensuring they stay on track.
A video healthcare platform for aftercare provides global accessibility and multilingual support. It is accessible across multiple devices and through any browser, making it easier for patients to access their aftercare video content anytime, anywhere. This flexibility benefits remote or rural patients, enabling them to receive the same quality of aftercare without needing to visit healthcare facilities frequently.
Automatic transcription and translation features in a video healthcare platform ensure that aftercare video content is accessible to patients from diverse linguistic backgrounds or those with hearing impairments. These features bridge the communication gap between healthcare providers and patients by converting spoken video content into text and translating it into multiple languages. This accessibility ensures that all patients can adhere to treatment plans and reduces the risk of complications due to misunderstandings.
In the evolving healthcare landscape, AI and machine learning are transforming a lot of aspects, including patient aftercare, with the help of video healthcare platforms. These technologies enhance how healthcare video content is delivered and made easily accessible to patients.
Digital solutions are increasingly shaping the future of healthcare. Healthcare video platforms have proven to be essential tools in improving patient aftercare. These systems offer the flexibility to deliver educational videos and monitor patient progress remotely. They also ensure patients adhere to recovery plans while maintaining data security and compliance with healthcare regulations.
A video healthcare platform for aftercare is a digital solution. It allows healthcare providers to deliver educational resources, follow-up instructions, and consultations through video content. It ensures patients receive continuous support after treatment, reducing the need for in-person visits.
On-demand video for healthcare allows patients to access vital educational content anytime. This enables them to review instructions, exercises, or medication guidelines at their convenience. This flexibility enhances patient engagement and improves adherence to aftercare plans.
Key benefits of using a video healthcare platform for aftercare include better patient outcomes through continuous communication, reduced hospital readmissions, improved resource management, and secure HIPAA-compliant communication. It helps healthcare providers track patient progress and ensure they follow their recovery plans.
Yes. By providing accessible video content to patients, healthcare providers can closely monitor patient recovery. This allows them to offer timely interventions, significantly reducing the chances of complications and hospital readmissions.
A video healthcare platform ensures data security through HIPAA-compliant measures. These include encryption, multifactor authentication, and role-based access control. These safeguards protect patient information while allowing secure communication between patients and providers.