OT: - Tele-Health experience with your doctor(s)? | The Boneyard

OT: Tele-Health experience with your doctor(s)?

Kitaman

Kitaman

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Has anyone experienced this with their doctor(s), including family members?

My doctor called to schedule one, but I declined only because I'm not feeling sick or anything. But I probably cancelled because I see little value in remote health check-ups or answering questions that I can do by email. I'm talking annual physical type of call, but I do have a heart doctor who also wants to tele-health. I think they are seeing patients, but I'm good in giving up my spot to someone more deserving/needing. My wife got the call, and she also declined for similar reasons (i.e. feeling fine). Sooner or later I'll probably have to participate, I guess.

I figure I'd ask for other's experiences, and whether it was beneficial. Anything accomplished?
 
Zionn said:
I work in Healthcare and Telehealth was emerging pre-COVID in a lot of areas....now.....here to stay. The advancements in tech are amazing. In fact, convenience should far outweigh concerns. In the urgent care space, Telehealth will be the new norm.
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I also work in healthcare (obviously) but in orthopaedics it's a little more challenging. We can do routine postop visits and non-operative followups via telemedicine, plus initial screening and advising regarding new injuries. But I need to lay my hands on for physical exam diagnosis, I need to be able to review xrays and MRI's that I may not be able to pull up remotely, and if new xrays or corticosteroid injections are needed those can only be done in person, requiring a scheduled visit to the office.

Still, I think we'll be employing telemedicine for those that we can.
 
Did this today. I've been having some foot issues. Called primary care this morning around 7am. Scheduler took all my info and said to expect a call from Dr around 9am (My PCP was unavailable until Mon so I opted for first avail).
Did an over the phone conversation. She set in referral for x-Rays and emailed my some exercise and stretching files.
Went to get x-rays. Had to do drive through verbal questioning to get to hospital.

Very efficient in my opinion.

My wife is an RN and fitness trainer so I had a good idea what was wrong and how to describe it.

Dr. said if I had x-rays done before noon she should get them today and give me call. Otherwise, tomorrow morning.
 
A family member has been doing Tele-Health, both appointments and PT. It's pretty great.
 
Zionn said:
I work in Healthcare and Telehealth was emerging pre-COVID in a lot of areas....now.....here to stay. The advancements in tech are amazing. In fact, convenience should far outweigh concerns. In the urgent care space, Telehealth will be the new norm.
Expand ...
Interesting. Just curious, how does the healthcare professional end the session. In the office he or she would usually just walk out, but you can't do that online. I'm wondering if they just go...

...next!
 
DCHuskyFan said:
Not sure how everyone else feels, but I strongly prefer the virtual to the in-person prostate exam.
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Did they mail you a rubber finger to complete the 'experience'?

I had used telehealth for pink-eye with my toddler months back which was great. She had already had it, so we just needed to confirm it was pink-eye and get the medicine. For certain issues I think its such a better option than going to an office to get something worse than you want to get solved (for a baby/kid)

I'm in Mass and they closed recreational dispensaries here to keep NYers and CTers from coming here to buy pot and spread their COVID, which meant they had to open the medical program up to telehealth. Apparently you just fill out a form and then talk to a doctor after for a few minutes and you're official. To me that is damn good medicine for this current situation we are in. The state is gonna lose a whoooooole lot of tax revenue once the recreationals open back up because of this little loophole
 
Doctor called me back about 30 min ago. She said x-rays were all negative for anything structural and she was putting consult to podiatry. She said give them 3-4 working days to call back, and I don't here anything call the central appts line and talk to a referral specialist.

I'm happy. A Dr. appt called in this morning, diagnosis, x-rays taken, call back on results and a consult to podiatry. Less than 9 hours clock time and only one visit to medical facility.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Doctor called me back about 30 min ago. She said x-rays were all negative for anything structural and she was putting consult to podiatry. She said give them 3-4 working days to call back, and I don't here anything call the central appts line and talk to a referral specialist.

I'm happy. A Dr. appt called in this morning, diagnosis, x-rays taken, call back on results and a consult to podiatry. Less than 9 hours clock time and only one visit to medical facility.
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You might be describing the future, a pioneer you are. Doctors may become as needed, in terms of in-person visits. This virus is becoming more of a playground for new try-outs from education to medical. Next up the entertainment and recreation industry.
 
I had one experience in telehealth in March where the lady just kinda went through the motions and basically got off the call with the simple advice for me, called back in mid April and a different doctor did a much better job and made me come in for an x Ray, which lead to them finding I had an pneumonia. So two very different experiences depending on the professional you talk to. Westmed is my healthcare provider
 
Kitaman said:
Has anyone experienced this with their doctor(s), including family members?

My doctor called to schedule one, but I declined only because I'm not feeling sick or anything. But I probably cancelled because I see little value in remote health check-ups or answering questions that I can do by email. I'm talking annual physical type of call, but I do have a heart doctor who also wants to tele-health. I think they are seeing patients, but I'm good in giving up my spot to someone more deserving/needing. My wife got the call, and she also declined for similar reasons (i.e. feeling fine). Sooner or later I'll probably have to participate, I guess.

I figure I'd ask for other's experiences, and whether it was beneficial. Anything accomplished?
Expand ...

So my wife is on the other end of that call. She's a nurse who is currently doing telehealth to triage all "other" patients. Because so much of the normal medical infrastructure is committed to covid, really very little other structure exists.

As a urgent care RN, she finds it very valuable for both the institutions and the patient. She estimates it is 95% as valuable as an in-person appointment from a diagnostic tool, with obviously much lower risk given the times we live in.
 
Had one yesterday because I had tonsillitis. Absolutely wonderful experience. It was for urgent care but I had an appointment in 40 min. Discussed with the guy my symptoms and had a prescription picked up 30 min later. Didn’t realize how great it was
 
Ajs120102 said:
Had one yesterday because I had tonsillitis. Absolutely wonderful experience. It was for urgent care but I had an appointment in 40 min. Discussed with the guy my symptoms and had a prescription picked up 30 min later. Didn’t realize how great it was
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As the non doctor going type, I would not have gone to see a doc. This process is much easier and convenient for sure.
 
Did it for a dermatologist. Took some photos. Sent them in prior to my call. Talked to doc for 5 min and she wrote me a scipt. Easy peasy. Best part is no down time. Was working in my office waiting for the session to start. Would have been a 2 hour process in person.

Works great for some things. Prob not so great for others.

Wanted to get an apt with cardiologist scheduled for June . Said they are only doing virtual. I passed. If they can’t do an ekg and listen to heart. What’s the point other than my copay
 
Kitaman said:
You might be describing the future, a pioneer you are. Doctors may become as needed, in terms of in-person visits. This virus is becoming more of a playground for new try-outs from education to medical. Next up the entertainment and recreation industry.
Expand ...

Not like this was my choice. Lol.

I do see a theme where many people in this thread are involved in health care or have a significant other in health care. I do believe that is a huge advantage in using remote health consultations. I'm no different with my wife being an RN and also a fitness instructor.
You have some built in knowledge on what to do and how to answer questions.
I do think for the general public it will require learning what can be done over phone and what needs to be done in-person.

To me the biggest advantage was saving time to get to specialist which should be good for all. The unnecessary in-person visits just to check off insurance company requirements to get to specialist is a waste for everyone's time and is inefficient delivering care.
 
Did this yesterday because i checked my BP and it was way too high. We've been watching it and I've been able to keep it down with diet and exercise but with quarantine things have changed. Add a few pounds, not enough exercise and my wife cooking a great new recipe every day and voila hypertension! So at my telemed I presented what I knew including my week of BP readings and now am on 10 mg lisinopril. this morning my systolic and diastolic both dropped 10%. Very pleased with telemed indeed. My Mom stroked out at the age I am now - if you think I am overly fearful! No its my medical history reality.
 
Edward Sargent said:
Did this yesterday because i checked my BP and it was way too high. We've been watching it and I've been able to keep it down with diet and exercise but with quarantine things have changed. Add a few pounds, not enough exercise and my wife cooking a great new recipe every day and voila hypertension! So at my telemed I presented what I knew including my week of BP readings and now am on 10 mg lisinopril. this morning my systolic and diastolic both dropped 10%. Very pleased with telemed indeed. My Mom stroked out at the age I am now - if you think I am overly fearful! No its my medical history reality.
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See if they can send you a bluetooth enabled BP cuff. Basically, you take your BP every day at the same time and reading automatically is sent to your doctor's office. They will track it for you there and....

a) If you haven't taken a reading in a few days, they'll contact you.
b) If you take your readings consistently and nothing changes, you don't have to go in for a BP only check in and,
c) If they notice something they don't like to see, they'll call and want to set up an appt.

Your insurer may also know more about this because the cost of giving you a bluetooth BP cuff is more than offset if you have quarterly doctor office visits or even 1 ER visit for something that wasn't caught earlier.
 
I just had a zoom appointment with my Dr for a rash on face. He thinks it's Rosacea and prescribed some $95 a bottle ointment. Seemed to work as it's going away. I hope that is a new norm for some issues. So much easier than going to Dr Office.
 
The other thing to think about with TeleMedicine is, doctors can spend less time on small issues and see more patients per hour. Their time is also better spent and used more efficiently. Win win.
 

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