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The Promise and the Peril of Virtual Health Care
Potential disadvantages of virtual health care
Telemedicine has been a hard sell in some areas.
- Many rural clinics and community hospitals fear that their already inadequate medical staffing and the revenues generated from on-site procedures will be further diminished by remote medicine.
- Old and poor patients who may need care the most can't afford smartphones or broadband connectivity.
- Until recently, many people were unaware that the service existed, while others didn't trust an anonymous doctor.
- Many people want to be in the physical presence of their physicians, believing the quality of virtual care is inferior.
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Telemedicine and telehealth
Telemedicine and telehealth involve remote-health-care technologies and services, known as "virtual care."
While virtual care played some role in the health-care industry, 2020 lead people to discover its benefits and shortcomings.
Virtual healthcare recognized
- Telemedicine can refer to the setup that allows workers in a large hospital to assist in emergency procedures from a distant support structure.
- Telehealth uses virtual interactions between individual doctors and patients. You may have a bad sore throat and download the telehealth app, where you will be connected to a physician who can examine you and prescribe medicine.
Fifty to seventy percent of visits to the doctor's office could be replaced by remote monitoring and checkups.
Potential disadvantages of virtual health care
Telemedicine has been a hard sell in some areas.
- Many rural clinics and community hospitals fear that their already inadequate medical staffing and the revenues generated from on-site procedures will be further diminished by remote medicine.
- Old and poor patients who may need care the most can't afford smartphones or broadband connectivity.
- Until recently, many people were unaware that the service existed, while others didn't trust an anonymous doctor.
- Many people want to be in the physical presence of their physicians, believing the quality of virtual care is inferior.
Doctors are unsure of telehealth
Doctor's are not sold on telehealth, either.
- According to a survey, only one in three specialists thinks virtual care will benefit their practice.
- Doctors are concerned about the diagnostic and therapeutic limitations of seeing patients on a screen.
- Tele-doctors could spend more time with fewer patients for less money.
Telehealth can only complement
Telehealth doesn't replace the brick-and-mortar visit, but it complements it.
It's one thing to offer telecare to a patient you know, but another to diagnose during a virtual first visit. A tele-doctor who misdiagnoses a stomach ache that is indeed stomach cancer has the same liability that a traditional doctor does. Therefore, virtual doctors should tell patients whose symptoms suggest a more complicated condition to make an in-person visit to an office.
The doctor-patient relationship
The current health-care system is not user-friendly or helpful. The average patient has to wait twenty-nine days to get a physician's appointment, and you may not initially know what it will cost you.
One of the appealing features of telehealth is that you feel comfortable in your home while having an intimate virtual encounter with your doctor. Your doctor can also solve your problem immediately for you.
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Telehealth services
Among the most known telehealth services:
- patient portal: you have the possibility to keep track of your health record while being able to communicate securely with your
doctor - virtual doctor appointments: extremely useful for persons who do not need an in-person physical examination
- store and forward: this kind of service enables the electronic transmission of medical documents
- remote patient monitoring: it allows your doctor to monitor your health from the comfort of your home by using wearable devices
- mobile health: through mobile health applications, you can keep better track of your health.
Telehealth and its benefits
Among the benefits of the telehealth:
- better access to medical care: especially for individuals with mobility issues or living far from a doctor
- improves care quality
- reduces care cost: you do not need to travel anymore
- increases patient's satisfaction: especially by saving time.
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