Zusammenfassung
Die Telemedizin hat besonders in der Schmerztherapie großes Potenzial, die Versorgung
der Patienten zu verbessern. Sie bietet die Chance, therapeutische Beratung und Behandlung
über die Grenzen spezialisierter Schmerzzentren hinweg auszuweiten. Der folgende Beitrag
beleuchtet die Gründe für den Einsatz der Telemedizin in der Schmerztherapie, stellt
verschiedene Modelle vor und geht auf wirtschaftliche Aspekte ein.
Abstract
Pain is generally undertreated and there is a need to differentiate and improve access
to appropriate pain care. The growing Field of telehealth offers a novel opportunity
for pain care, exploiting mainly communicative and pharmacological therapeutic principles.
Rationale for telemedicine for the management of chronic pain are the potential to
overcome timely, economical, and structural barriers for the access to specialized
pain care as well as the general open mindedness of physicians and patients towards
this technology. The general usability and effectiveness of telemedicine in pain care
has been described. The most prominent applications of telemedicine in pain care are
store-and-forward applications and direct consultations. Smartphone applications are
easily accessible and inexpensive. The quality and effectiveness of smartphone applications
has not been evaluated thoroughly due to a lack of regulatory objectives. Estimations
of the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine in pain care are limited due to a lack of
data regarding long-term outcome and healthcare utilization after treatment. Telemedicine
offers new approaches to improve pain care for the treatment of acute postoperative
pain as well. Future challenges will be to start a collaborative effort between developers
and health-care professionals to implement evidence-based clinical protocols into
telemedicine applications and to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of existing
telemedicine programmes.
Schlüsselwörter
Telemedizin - schmerztherapeutische Versorgung - E-Health - chronische Schmerzen -
Teleschmerztherapie
Key words
telemedicine - pain therapy - eHealth - chronic pain - tele pain therapy
