How to Provide Online Medical Consultation | Guide to Telemedicine in 2021

The entire healthcare system is has moved digital and towards the adoption of telemedicine services and innovative tools that simplify, speed up, and personalize the doctor-patient relationship. In the case of optimizing the doctor-patient relationship, online medical consultation is part of which it has become essential and easy to manage and consult patients online.

In this whole affair, how can doctors protect their profession and in the same way make their contribution to health using digital tools?

What is meant by online consultation?

The online medical consultation is nothing more than the health service booked and provided through the internet usually included in most EMR software like CliniquePlus. This service, in practice, allows the doctor to carry out remote visits, provide opinions, do prevention and remotely manage adherence to therapies, with the advantage of simplifying the relationship with the patient.

For example, it allows you to constantly monitor the vital parameters of the most fragile problems or provide a specialist opinion to patients from all regions in a short time, with the ability to also view files and reports in complete safety and, what should not be underestimated, solves the problems of overcrowding in clinics.

The online consultation does not intend to replace the traditional face-to-face visit but rather represents the ideal solution in all those situations in which an in-person meeting with the patient is superfluous. Find out more about the benefits of CliniquePlus EMR software.

Why do patients request an online medical consultation?

For some years now, many people have experienced more independent management of their health, entrusting billions of searches to the internet. In this way, finding the best doctor to contact to solve your problems, or ask for clarification about some symptoms, pathologies, and treatments has never been easier.

Getting an online medical consultation is not only simple but also quick and saves time and resources. 

It is therefore increasingly necessary for patients to find a concrete, and above all scientifically validated, answer to their doubts on the internet. This is why the doctor must be present online with a personal website or social pages to increase their online visibility. Better still if you write and share health tips of common interest to become a reference in online searches through a blog post and social networks. 

The problem, however, is that how users request online consultations is often totally out of control. They use the information made available by the doctor to be found online(email address, private numbers, social networks, etc.) to send messages, photographs, and requests of all kinds, at any time and without an appointment.

It goes without saying that to pay the outcomes is the professionalism of the doctor and the same health service that turns into an informal conversation, made even more complex by the fact of having to manage the sensitive data shared online in a careful way and compliance with the privacy legislation. 

How to Provide Online medical consultation

Digital health platforms are a real help for clinicians in the management of online medical consultations.

This is because, on the one hand, they satisfy the patient’s need to have increasingly personalized access to health, and on the other hand they enable the registered doctor to use some innovative tools designed to facilitate communication with the patient, in full compliance with the rules on the protection of health data.

For example, the doctor who signs up on the CliniquePlus EMR platform can provide a medical consultation in several ways, using telemedicine services (against an economic recognition) such as:

• Video Visit, medical advice is guaranteed simply and reliably through an audio/video connection, which allows you to see and interact with the patient in real-time. The user can book a video visit or the doctor can make an appointment with his patient, and through a pc / smartphone/tablet you can connect at the established time, in a virtual room. The video visit is the ideal solution to provide a specialist opinion quickly, without exchanging personal contacts and without installing any software, or for a control that does not require physical presence;
• Teleconsultation: is the medical consultation via chat that can be purchased by the user, which allows the doctor to interact with the patient privately and without time limits. The doctor can contribute to the diagnostic and therapeutic process based not only on the clinical history told in the messages but also by receiving online files such as documents, reports, analysis results, and images. It is particularly useful for providing a second opinion to patients who need it, or for providing an ultra-specialist opinion in a short time.

Online medical consultation, the alternative to the office visit

Telemedicine solutions have been considered valid support to medical activity during the Covid-19 emergency. A recent survey conducted by the study center of the trade union and the Digital Innovation in Health Observatory showed that 95% of General Practitioners respondents (740 GPs) see telemedicine resources as the answer to managing health and chronic conditions in post-Covid scenarios.

In particular, 88% of medical specialists declared that they are interested in using teleconsultation as an innovative alternative to the traditional visit.