Telemedicine refers to the remote delivery of healthcare services done by providers for patients when they are not present with each other.
Telemedicine services allow patients to have real-time communication with physicians through video conferencing, providers to share patient information with a practitioner in another location, or remote caregivers to monitor patients that reside at home by using mobile medical devices to collect data.
No matter whether you accept it or not, telemedicine has gradually become a trend of future medical care.
Why Telemedicine Becomes So Popular in Recent Years?
Technology is just at the door.
As the Internet and telecommunication technology become available everywhere, people’s contact can be achieved at any time and any place. Recent years have witnessed so many revolutions brought by the Internet to traditional businesses like vehicles, payment, etc. If it’s a trend that applies to all fields, medical care won’t be naturally excluded.
Stimulation of Big Events
As is what’s happening, COVID-19 provides more reasons for telemedicine due to its flexibility and contact reduction to decrease the opportunity of contagion. Apart from the coronavirus pandemic, what another virus would we suffer from in the future? It’s hard to say. However, one of the lessons people have learned from COVID-19 is nothing but social distancing. People are especially suggested to stay away from crowds that are usually seen in a hospital. That’s why telemedicine is favored right now.
What Benefits does Telemedicine Have?
Cost-Effective
Without the need for transportation for both doctors and patients, they can spend their time with more efficiency, which cheers patients more because they don’t need to stand the waiting line, consultations, or traffic jams. Physicians are able to communicate with their patients more freely and to provide their report or recipe with an online fax app with their signatures.
Income Rising
This benefit speaks of doctors and providers. As efficiency goes constantly up, doctors are allowed to receive more patients within the same time. That means they can earn more money than they did before.
Uprising Convenience
In-person visits are switched to virtual visits, which is a huge convenience for both doctors and patients. That’s also one of the obvious advantages the Internet gives people.
Who does Telemedicine Best Work for?
Patients Who Are Inconvenient to Go to the Hospital or Clinic
The majority of such patients are old people or the disabled who have difficulties in physical movement. However, when they need medical checking, telemedicine can be used so that they can receive medical inspection or treatment without the need of leaving home. In addition, telemedicine also works best for children and those who live so far from hospitals or clinics.
Chronic Disease Patients Calling for Periodical Checking
When it comes to some diseases like high blood pressure, high sugar disease, or tumor, the patients suffering from those call for periodical checking. Different from treatment, they need reviews to monitor whether the disease is becoming worse or not. They don’t need wards, surgery, or even a doctor’s too much time while they just need to check their heart, blood, etc. to ensure they just stay in good condition.
How to Prepare for Smooth Telemedicine?
To receive satisfying telemedicine services, you primarily need two types of preparations: human resources and tools. Human resources refer to health care professionals, including providers, doctors, physicians, etc. that aren’t beyond patients’ reach. However, patients can prepare the necessary tools for a smooth telemedicine service.
Video Visits
The achievement of telemedicine derives from the development of telecommunications technology including network, telecommunication, IoT, etc. Different from in-person visits, the communication between patients and doctors for telemedicine services mainly depends on telecommunications with the help of the Internet. Therefore, WiFi and a video calling app is should be needed.
Mobile Fax Tool
A patient is never allowed to go through your checking result unless you approve of that. In the case of telemedicine, you need to fax your inspection result to your doctor together with your signature for approval. It’s suggested that a mobile fax tool should be used to send your reviews to your doctor with ease.
Is Telemedicine a Trend of Future Medical Care?
Telemedicine becomes increasingly popular since the COVID-19 pandemic, it can’t be denied that it’ll become a future trend of medical care. Technology gives a push to telemedicine and emergent issues accelerate it. Now that it is available, we should learn to embrace it through full preparations.