What is Telemedicine? How Does Telemedicine Work?
With few clicks, you can research conditions and symptoms online. You can have prescriptions, supplements and many more.
Telemedicine is a general term that covers all the ways you and your doctor can use technology to communicate without being in the same room. It includes phone calls, video chats, emails, and text messages. People also call it telehealth, digital medicine online.
Who can use Telemedicine?
If your doctor offers the option, all you need to use telemedicine is internet and a phone, smartphone, or computer.
Telemedicine is a convenient way of take medicine for everyone, but it’s helpful in the condition if you:
Live in a rural area or far from the doctor’s.
Have limited access to transportation, or time
Need medical care if you are away from home.
Depending on what your doctor offers, you can get medical services in different ways.
With the security of a username and password, a patient portal lets you send and get emails from doctor or nurse, ask for prescription refills, and set up online doctor appointment. Doctors can also share your lab or imaging test results and tell you what they mean. This is faster than waiting to talk to them on phone.
Telemedicine can solve many issues but it can’t replace doctor visits.
If you have long-term illness, you can use it to share home readings like blood pressure or blood sugar levels and to talk to doctor about them.
Telemedicine is the use of technology that enables remote healthcare. Basically it makes it possible for physicians to treat patients whenever needed and wherever the patient is, by using a computer.
Here are few of the situations in which telemedicine can be a great alternative to the traditional healthcare system after taking doctor consultation:
Diagnosis of common medical problems such as headache, sore throat, back pain.
Inquiries about various medical issues for home treatment.
Post-treatment check-ins or follow-up for chronic care.
Faster refill of short-term medical prescriptions.
Holidays, weekends, late night or any other situation where regular medical care is not possible.
Patient inability to leave house due to sickness or bad weather conditions.
So, how does telemedicine work and how does it relate to telehealth? Making use of telemedicine services is easy. Traditionally, the service uses an online account or a toll-free phone number. Patients request a visit, submit basic information on their condition, and then the physician either accepts or declines the visit, or schedules it for the future. Telemedicine is a technology, but may not be suitable for every practice or every situation. Before making use of it, assess your patient’s needs and make sure it’s an appropriate time to use the technology.
Benefits with the use of telemedicine:
Patients often lose hours of the day when they make the long commute to the doctor’s office. In some cases, leaving the house to access care just doesn’t seem worth it–like during weather such as heavy rain or snow.
Telemedicine opportunities start with convenience. With telemedicine, patients can be diagnosed from the home and in some states have their prescriptions immediately sent to local pharmacies. This method is not only saving time, but also a way of getting medical attention whenever needed, and is helpful for patients in rural areas. They can take online medicine order.
Physicians and patients both save money using telemedicine. Patients don’t see the cost of leaving work that comes with traditional visits, and physicians don’t lose money on cancellations or no-shows. In some cases, the cost of cash-only telemedicine service is less expensive than an urgent care clinic for patients. Physicians benefit from gaining telemedicine reimbursement they may not otherwise see during off-hours consultations.
Chronic illnesses require patients to spend a lot of time in a doctor’s office, but that isn’t always necessary. With many conditions, renew a prescription, and not worth a long commute. Or perhaps your patient has a simple cold or mild infection, and the physical exam can be completed. In such situations, patients can use telemedicine to find quick treatment, and physicians don’t lose patients and can take online medicine delivery.
