Preparing Clinicians and Patients for the Future of Virtual Medicine and Telehealth

Abstract

Telehealth and telemedicine used to be a small, specialized niche within the larger healthcare industry. Areas of medicine that were particularly conducive to this provision of healthcare involved patient:provider interactions that relied more heavily on the medical history and inspection, rather than auscultation, palpation and percussion of body parts. The COVID-19 pandemic, and associated social distancing recommendations, forever changed the healthcare landscape in 2020, and dramatically increased the utilization of telehealth/telemedicine. As consumers of healthcare, patients are now far more willing to participate in telehealth visits that can be conducted within the confines of their own homes, when appropriate. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the added feelings of safety and security felt at home, often outweighed the anticipated challenges with technology. Today, patients with chronic conditions are likely to have several pieces of equipment at home that can help facilitate telehealth visits and provide clinicians with objective patient data. Equipment such as a scale, blood pressure cuff, and pulse oximetry, glucometer and spirometry can provide clinicians with helpful information and contribute to important aspects of the healthcare visit, even when it is conducted remotely. In our current digital world, clinicians must be proficient with technology, knowledgeable about HIPAA compliant platforms and skilled in employing health informatics.