However, the practice presents a number of troubling issues. "The encounter over the phone is 'faceless' which makes it difficult for the nurse to 'read' the patient through body language and face expressions" (Hoglund & Holmstrom 2009)
Among the innovative ways nurse care has been improved, telenursing remains the most popular, particularly because it removed the geographical barriers that once existed between patients and healthcare providers. By definition, telenursing is the application of information technology and telecommunications in the provision of nursing services to patients at a distance (Kumar and Snooks, 2011)
Various technologies enable health care providers to use these means -- from smart phones to email to virtual connections, Telehealth is bringing the 21st century to patient-provider relationships and helping more adequately and efficiently to facilitate the provider in meeting the individual needs of the patient (MayoClinic, 2015). With attention given to patient safety, cost containment, managed care, disease management, shortages of healthcare providers, unequal access to health care, along with helping the aging population to be functional in their homes (without getting in the way by one's physical presence), telenursing offers a great many positive opportunities to nurses and patients everywhere (Hebda, Czar, 2012, p
Without having sufficient conversations and decisions made amongst policy makers regarding the costs, system stability, legal issues, and efficient implementation of telemedicine it was difficult to get up and to run. With the development of technology today, telemedicine is capable of being instituted and utilized, the lack of sufficient discussions is the concern with telemedicine (Lee, Lee, Kim, 2016)
Having technology that is functional and interoperable is necessary for the success of telehealth, too. Having the support of the front line staff is also crucial to the innovation of telemedicine and to have the positive experience of definite success (Taylor, 2014)
Each of these shows that telenursing can be a great advantage when used with full knowledge and understanding. The use of knowledgeable/experienced nurses with critical thinking skills was, however, determined to be part of the key to success in telenursing implementation in the ICU (Trossman, 2014)