Become Familiar with Challenges in Telemedicine before Opting for it

Like any other field, the healthcare industry has been changing as compared to old times. These days, new techniques have taken over facilitating doctors and patients at the same time. Telemedicine is one such advancement in this field that has helped people during pandemic times. No one was allowed to go outside the home and telemedicine doctor could check patients through phone calls, video chats and conferences. However, everything has its own set of challenges and telemedicine is no exception. Some of these challenges are explained below:

Limited access to diagnosis

Some medical conditions need touch and feel. The doctor has to check the affected area to figure out what the actual problem is. Likewise, he has to suggest some tests after checking up on the patients properly. This is the major challenge in telemedicine that a doctor faces he cannot touch and feel the patients. Sometimes, it may lead to misdiagnosis and the condition of the patient may get affected.

Internet issues at the time of appointment 

Another issue that both patients and doctors face is poor connectivity. They are not able to hear or see each other properly because one of them has a slow internet connection. In this case, the online appointment may not be as smooth as it is intended. It may be a loss of money for doctors because he has to attend to several patients at a time.

Technical understanding of devices

It should also be noted that not everyone is tech-savvy. If a senior citizen is taking online consultation, he may not be able to work on these devices like a pro. Likewise, proper training to work in telemedicine is required by doctors also. If they are not able to work on these gadgets, they may not be able to run a smooth online appointment. 

No record of patients

Patients are attending online appointments because they cannot visit the clinic. In this case, there may be a lack of patient records and the doctor may not know the background history of the patient’s condition. In this case, a physical visit is more beneficial.

Medicare 

There might be some challenges in getting the Medicare reimbursements if you are using telemedicine. However, major healthcare insurance companies are working on this issue and will soon come up with a solution.

If you can visit the doctor’s clinic or hospital, you should opt for it so that you can get personal attention.