One good thing about the pandemic

[George K]

Televisits for docs.

Mrs. George had an appointment scheduled for this morning with one of her surgeons. It was nothing more than a yearly follow-up. When we let the office know that there was possible exposure to SARS-CoV-2, they made the appointment a tele-health visit.

So, rather than leaving for downtown an hour before the visit, parking, sitting in the waiting room, having the visit, then driving home, a 2 ½ hour adventure took 10 minutes.

We were very pleased.

By the way, this hospital doesn't use Zoom or anything, but Doximity - they text you the link, click on it and you're in. So much easier. We did it on my iPad.

I just tried using it to talk to Mrs. George in the other room - she got a text and we could teleconference 10 feet away, LOL.

[Doctor Phibes]

Yes, this is good. I had my annual physical the same way. Well, to be honest it was more of a chat than a physical. I was a little disappointed, I'd bought a pair of latex gloves and everything.

[George K]

I think it's a one-on-one connection, so group chat is not possible.

[Mik]

Yep. I've had two this month. Works great.

[kluurs]

Yeah, I agree. Telehealth has been fought forever - and it can work so well. There have been times in my life when I and the doctor know I just need a prescription - but the only way we can do this is for me to do as you mentioned: travel, park, walk, wait - which involve hours of time. My last visit with my internist was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. I was actually talking to him at 10:00 a.m. and done at 10:10 a.m.. Tests were ordered by 10:18 a.m.

[George K]

When MIL was living with us, in the early-mid 1990s, there were lots of doctors' calls, visits, etc as she was going through chemotherapy. Mrs. George was wondering if there was a way that this could be done using the (then new) "Internet."

She investigated all kinds of things, including CU-See-Me (remember that?), but the problem was always bandwidth, and anything faster than dialup was not available, except at a prohibitive expense (like a T1 line!). She and I even attended a conference in DC in May of 1995, iirc on "Telemedicine." I really thought we were on the edge of something at that time.

And now, 25 years later, here we are...

[jon-nyc]

I’ve now done three with Duke. Will do the next one that way too.

Once I’m vaccinated I’ll go back down.

[Frank_W]

When I was in Surg. Tech school, I asked my program director if I could get a case of exam gloves out of the lab by Friday. She asked why I needed a whole case of exam gloves. I told her (with a straight face) that I was entertaining guests this weekend. She laughed until she had tears in her eyes. LOL

[kluurs]

@Frank_W And you've got appropriate labels at home if I recall.

[Loki]

@kluurs said in One good thing about the pandemic:

Yeah, I agree. Telehealth has been fought forever - and it can work so well. There have been times in my life when I and the doctor know I just need a prescription - but the only way we can do this is for me to do as you mentioned: travel, park, walk, wait - which involve hours of time. My last visit with my internist was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. I was actually talking to him at 10:00 a.m. and done at 10:10 a.m.. Tests were ordered by 10:18 a.m.

EVisits didn’t work either. Never enough money in it for the docs. Covid pushed telehealth ahead 5 years. Intuitively we always knew much could be done this.

[jon-nyc]

The providers love it this year. CMS pays parity and patients weren’t coming in otherwise.

It will likely be made permanent. There’s a house bill now.

[Loki]

Oh yeah. The train has left the station.

[Frank_W]

@kluurs said in One good thing about the pandemic:

@Frank_W And you've got appropriate labels at home if I recall.

Indeed! LOL!