Healthcare is changing before our eyes. Medical professional worldwide needs to do more with less. Doctor shortages mean there are often too many patients to see. Population ships often leave people in underserved communities without specialized care. Unnecessary hospital readmissions cost the providers millions of dollars every year. With more healthcare demands on the way, we need innovative approaches. We believe that digital consultations i.e., virtual healthcare delivery and e-medicine could be an answer.
Virtual healthcare delivery means linking doctors, patients, hospitals, specialists, nurses, pharmacies, and administrators through innovative tools such as ID video calls or any other cloud-based video chatting tool. Here’s an idea as to how this might work. A health professional makes calls to a world community, a hundred or even thousands of miles away.
A federally qualified health center consults virtually with a specialist at the best regional medical center. We provide you with some important tips to keep in mind when going through video consultation.
Identity Check
Always expect an identity check. When you get a consultation from a clinician, they may not be your regular doctor and first and foremost they may need to confirm you are who you say you are. This is one of the safety protocols that is ingrained in many healthcare-providing systems. Things like your name, your date of birth, your current address, or some other identification, your email address for example could be asked to make sure that they are speaking to the right person.
Clinician Introduction
Always make sure the clinician introduces himself. With the growing number of things like primary care networks, you may end up having consultations with doctors as well as non-doctors, like pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, physician associates, et al. so make sure you get an introduction of the person to who you are speaking.
Decent Internet Connection
The quality of the data that you have, or the reception should be particularly good. If you do not have a proper internet connection, the provider might drop you down to telephone consultations rather than a video consultation just because the bandwidth is needed. In case you need a consultation for a very visual thing, for example, a skin rash, and the connection is not good then the clinician might not be able to see it effectively. This might mean that you will have to reschedule your appointment. This will waste your time, waste the provider’s time and it’s just not feasible.
Dress Code
Video consultations can take place in a variety of different settings and locations. This can be at work, in their homes, or in any other area. Particularly when they are at home, patients want to be comfortable and there is a difference between being comfortable and maybe showing a bit too much.
Doctors have had an earlier experience where their patients were essentially naked. You should also keep in mind that if not all then most of these video sessions will be recorded.
Of course, these conversations will be kept strictly confidential and not broadcast to the world, but you need to keep in mind that these conversations are recorded for your safety as well as for training and education purposes.
Privacy
There is a couple of things to consider here, first is that people may have these consultations at work or their home and it’s important to remember that the kind of information we’re talking about is your health information. This is potentially the most sensitive data that you have about yourself. So, make sure you are alone or at least with people that you trust to share that information.
Headphones
One of the key elements to having a good flow consultation is using a pair of headphones. Typically, most people who have these consultations either use their smartphones or a tablet, so it is important to use things like headphones to narrow the sound to your ears. This will help you hear what the physician is saying clearly and at once, saving the doctor from the hassle of repeating it again and again.
Documentation
The majority of platforms that provide video consultations will allow you to see the consultations that you had with the clinician in the form of a document shortly after it’s been discussed with the clinician.
One thing to remember is that sometimes you might have to do some actions after the consultation to make sure you get the treatment that you need. This refers to some of the more private systems, for example, which pharmacy you want the medication to be sent to. It’s important to remember that you need to do that, and this is also a part of the consultation. If you do not do it in this fashion, your delivery of medication might be delayed. You should also take advantage of the online notes service (if any) that the hospital will provide to not miss any key advice that you received.
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