Healthcare Technology Featured Article

May 06, 2013

The Virtual Doctor: Using Video Conferencing for Healthcare Visits?


If you’re past a certain age and you have been to the doctor lately, you’ve probably noticed that things have changed from 30 or 40 years ago. Waiting rooms, which once held a few patients, now look more like packed concert arenas. Doctors are seldom on time, and we count ourselves “lucky” if he or she is “only” running 25 minutes late. Once we do finally see the doctor? The visit goes by in a flash. In fact, the average visit with a doctor nowadays lasts only 13 minutes, according to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

All that waiting for a 13-minute visit doesn’t seem worth it, particularly when you’re certain, for example, that you have a sinus infection and simply need a prescription for antibiotics, or a refill on that eczema cream. Sometimes you might think, “It’s too bad I can’t just video Skype with the doctor.”

Soon, you might be able to do just that.

Telemedicine, or long-distance healthcare services over telecommunications media, is gaining ground. Already, many of your records are maintained in digital format and can be shared with other healthcare interests. Test results are delivered online, and some patients even wear Internet-enabled health monitoring appliances that track and report on vital signs. 

A next step might be to combine all these technologies and include a video chat session with the doctor. Maybe it wouldn’t work for a first visit – the doctor does still need to touch you to diagnose problems – but for follow-ups and to relay test results, there is no reason why video conferencing or other technology can’t work.

In some states, physicians already conduct office visits via personal communication devices, using Skype, FaceTime, email or text, according to a recent CNN article, which noted that telemedicine has evolved more quickly in states and regions that are largely rural, where finding a medical specialist is difficult and often involves a lengthy wait for an appointment.

In the more distant future, science may provide healthcare personnel with advanced technology for remote diagnostics – materials that can scan and replicate a bulge or lump, allowing the physician to palpate the site from miles away – and even the ability to perform surgeries from remote locations.

But for now, most of us would be glad to be spared the need to sit in an uncomfortable chair in a germy waiting room reading a three-month-old copy of Golf Digest.




Edited by Alisen Downey
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]




SHARE THIS ARTICLE



FREE eNewsletter

Click here to receive your targeted Healthcare Technology Community eNewsletter.
[Subscribe Now]