COVID 19 whacked this privilege almost overnight and we’re left to deal with providing care, as much as possible from a distance, or we risk harming the patient or us in the process. Even a decade old Telehealth hobbyist like me was unnerved by this disruption. As a healthcare professional, do I really have other choices? So how do we deliver care from a distance? Is it really possible to do this?
T1. What competencies do I need to provide care from a distance?
This first came into mind after the COVID 19 disruption sunk in. I had to assess myself. Providing face to face care needed competent health professionals. Factor in distance and you are in what seems to be an entirely new way of way of providing car. What do I need for Telehealth or telemedicine?
Telehealth includes a broad range of technologies and services to provide patient care and improve the healthcare delivery system as a whole. Telemedicine is a subset of Telehealth which is basically “provision of health care services and education over a distance, using telecommunications technology”. Like any technology adoption, I have a framework for evaluating what applies to me and what do I need to use it. But before that, I always do a “needs assessment”.
T2. What aspect of telemedicine makes you uncomfortable professionally?
When I started practicing telemedicine, the blank stares or the zombie like nod from other ends is disconcerting. I have no way of knowing whether the epatient” got what we have discussed or instructed. Limited visual cues, the ever lagging net connection and the frequent restlessness of camera shy patient or me, is disconcerting. Sometimes, no econsult ever happend because we all had the time just figuring out our eclinic.
T3. What’s the funniest telemedicine encounter you had?
There’s was once that I was so engrossed talking and giving instructions I didn’t noticed the connection went dead and I was talking to a microphone for 5 minutes. Or the whole mic set up collapsed in my face. Or a patient showing up on the other end with a coke and cake in tow, munching and talking at the same time.
literary a new world for most of us. COVID-19 made it a necessity for us to provide care. I’m just starting my journey, feeling the bumps, humps and ridiculous encounters here there. I realized though that providing care will never be the same again even after this pandemic. As with any other tool in medicine and health, Telehealth will should help us do what we do most best as health professionals
Join #HealthXPh twitter chat at 9pm Manila time Sept 12, 2020 as we discuss telehealth, providing care from a distance.
