Can Telemedicine Make Redundant Doctor Visits?

Very simply put, telemedicine is the increasingly evolving method used by phone or internet medical practitioners to consult with other doctors, patients and specialists. In certain cases, a medical practitioner may also perform procedures and tests in any of the different media available today.

Telemedicine, while presently considered a modern technology, has been recorded as being used in the form of smoke signals by African Villagers in its earliest form. They were mostly used to warn others to stay away from their villages in order to discourage visitors from contracting an infectious disease.

Telemedicine also uses a "tele-" prefix and then, for example, the specialty of practice follows; as in teleradiology or telepsychiatry. Telecardiology, teleneurology and even teledentistry are a few other specialties which come under the teleprefix. As you can see, in most fields of medicine, technology is actually being used.

The last time you received x-rays, you might also have found that they were transmitted to your referring doctor over the phone, and instead of getting this big yellow envelope with video, you were given a tidy little disk that fit comfortably into your pocket or purse.

Initially, for remote towns and villages and highly difficult to reach areas, telemedicine was deemed most useful and has been used in nearly all medical venues.

As there is a lack of doctors in many of these areas, the use of telemedicine technology is both cost-effective and, in some cases, life saving for those who are unable to receive diagnosis at major medical centers.

There are many benefits of delivering healthcare services using telemedicine technology. In geriatric populations that may be homebound or confined in a convalescent home, one of the big ones is. They may not be able to drive to an office venue, or they may actually be dangerous. In these cases, with the use of video conferencing tools, diagnostic consultations may be conducted so that the doctor can both see and hear the patient and the medical professional on site.

In addition, one study shows that online cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT patients suffering from depression are two and a half times more likely than patients who have physically appeared in the office of a mental health provider to recover from their mental health problems using online therapy. The immediate availability of therapy through telemedicine technology could very well be the response to this increasingly increasing problem, because statistics state that one in six adults suffer from depression or anxiety.

As you might already expect, the main barrier to the widespread practice of telemedicine is, of course, the licensing and regulation involved within the various states. It has its own rules and, if one is not approved, it is actually illegal to practice and administer medications. If the medical community is permitted to step past the bureaucratic nightmare, then I am confident that telemedicine would progress at an increasing rate.

What was once thought of as science fiction has now landed in your own piece of cyberspace. In certain cases, you can now stop seeing a doctor at all due to new telemedicine technology and the acceptance of distance diagnostics. A complete network of on-call doctors and health monitoring services has already been established by some businesses that you can use at your discretion.

In certain instances, the ease of this service is almost incalculable. In fact, studies involving visits to emergency rooms suggest that nearly 70 percent are unnecessary. With just a phone call, many might have been handled. The truth, then, is that telemedicine could really be a viable solution. Without ever needing to leave home, the non-emergent patient will obtain quality health care from fully licensed board certified physicians.

Many of the illnesses, such as cold, flu and rashes, are mild in nature. They can only be handled by explaining the illness on the phone or by email and the physician can prescribe drugs that can be directly called into the pharmacy.

In conclusion, it's not too much of an attempt to expect that telemedicine will soon be just another way of seeing a doctor, and it will be normal to speak to them on the phone or over the internet.

Anish Shrestha is a prolific digital entrepreneur with cutting-edge technology. His most recent work covers the realistic use of telemedicine in daily life. If you are interested in obtaining access over the phone to high quality, board certified physicians 24/7 365 days a year, get your prescriptions without an office visit and earn money from home.

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