Telehealth
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Back in 1994 when MIL was dying, she lived with us. Mrs. George took care of her, and longed for the time when we could do a "video visit" with the doc. We had CU-See-Me installed on our computer, but none of the docs who were taking care of her were interested, or had the capability for this kind of thing. Remember, this is still in the days of dial-up, and connections were slow and unreliable. She actually went to a telemedicine conference held in DC in 1995 looking for help as to how to get this implemented.
In retrospect, without the infrastructure and software, it was a hopeless task.
Also, there was really no market for it at the time. After all, if the patient comes to me, why should I invest the time, energy and money for all this.
And now, boom! Everything's changed and the docs need to do this to survive. One of Mrs. George's docs does only televisits now (he doesn't really have to examine her - it's all history).
Those things said, there's something of value in the "laying on of hands." D2's endocrinologist was able to feel a couple of small thyroid nodules which, on biopsy, were revealed to be a papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. She had the gland removed about 2 months later, and has been fine since. I wonder if her course would have been as benign if the endocrinologist were looking at lab work.
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In person visits have their place and always will. But there are certainly times when a televisit suffices.
For me it’s been useful not having to go to Duke every three months. I could see doing every other visit in person once Covid is over, as long as I’m doing well.
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In person visits have their place and always will. But there are certainly times when a televisit suffices.
For me it’s been useful not having to go to Duke every three months. I could see doing every other visit in person once Covid is over, as long as I’m doing well.
@jon-nyc you're right.
For cases like D2, the televisit-only approach could have been lethal. OTOH, I could see a hybrid type of patient care. Come in once a year for the actual physical, and let the others be via Zoom or whatever if there's not a change in status. Mrs. George, as I said, has a monthly televisit with one of her docs. He's never examined her (pain clinic) and there's no reason to start now. It works great. My internist, whom I see semi-annually does the most perfunctory physical exam (he was much more thorough when we were interns together, LOL), and I'd be just as happy with telemedicine for him.
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I think pretty important. I give this a lot of thought what with the boy and all. I can replicate his academic school day easily and in comparatively little time. The social aspect I can’t replicate at all.
He’s very much an autodidact. Frankly social learning will likely be his main takeaway from his entire K-12 experience. And the credentials of course.
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Oh yeah, we’ve done a great deal of that in the last few months. I’ve basically got him ready for 8th grade algebra (he’s entering 6th grade now), he knows more history than 85% of adults, codes in Python, and is reading YA novels daily with his mother and writing answers to essay questions she writes for him.
And we have kept it up all summer.
You were warned.
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Oh yeah, we’ve done a great deal of that in the last few months. I’ve basically got him ready for 8th grade algebra (he’s entering 6th grade now), he knows more history than 85% of adults, codes in Python, and is reading YA novels daily with his mother and writing answers to essay questions she writes for him.
And we have kept it up all summer.
@jon-nyc said in Telehealth:
Oh yeah, we’ve done a great deal of that in the last few months. I’ve basically got him ready for 8th grade algebra (he’s entering 6th grade now), he knows more history than 85% of adults, codes in Python, and is reading YA novels daily with his mother and writing answers to essay questions she writes for him.
And we have kept it up all summer.
That's excellent, Jon. He'll be ready for AP courses any time now.
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Oh yeah, we’ve done a great deal of that in the last few months. I’ve basically got him ready for 8th grade algebra (he’s entering 6th grade now), he knows more history than 85% of adults, codes in Python, and is reading YA novels daily with his mother and writing answers to essay questions she writes for him.
And we have kept it up all summer.
