How Telemedicine and Urgent Care Can Overlap

Patients are increasingly being steered to a variety of digital health options. However, many of these solutions fall short of creating a whole-person framework to direct patients throughout their healthcare experience.

The upside is that patient comfort levels, and expectations for virtual substitutes are rising. The moment has come to use virtual care to address the problems that make healthcare complex, expensive, and fragmented for patients and providers.

What Is Telemedicine?

Telemedicine refers to the “remote delivery of healthcare services” There are three standard forms of telemedicine, including but not limited to:

Store and forward enables clinicians to share patient data with a practitioner in another location. Interactive Medicine enables patients and doctors to communicate in real time. Lastly, there is Remote Patient Monitoring. Using portable medical devices to gather data, remote carers can keep an eye on patients who live at home (e.g., blood sugar or blood pressure)

People can receive care with telemedicine in the convenience and privacy of their own homes. As a result, it is less needed to plan a trip, find child care, and take time off work. It reduces waiting times and enables patients to book consultations around their hectic schedules. In this way, it can be quite cost-effective because you save up on fuel costs. Furthermore, you do not have to waste time and wait for an illness to get worse while you wait at your doctor’s office.

However, the following are some typical drawbacks of telemedicine:

  • Problems with technology when using devices.
  • Inability to study people physically
  • Lack of patient-doctor trust
  • Concerns around malpractice and responsibility are not clearly defined.

What Is Urgent Care?

The basic purpose of urgent care is to aid those patients who do not have a fatal illness but still need immediate help. Urgent care facilities offer convenient access to high-quality healthcare without the burden or expense of emergency rooms.

Even if they are not emergencies, urgent medical illnesses need to be treated immediately. Examples of such circumstances include:

  • Falls and mishaps
  • A sprain or a strain
  • Slight back issues
  • Breathing problems (i.e., mild to moderate asthma)
  • Bleeding/cuts that need sutures but don’t bleed heavily.

How Telemedicine And Urgent Care Can Overlap

With the evolution of technology and unfortunate circumstances such as the pandemic, urgent care and telemedicine have begun to overlap. Something you may call telemedicine urgent care.

COVID-19

Telemedicine apps have become a common platform for delivering urgent healthcare services. Especially due to COVID-19. Hospitals discovered telemedicine apps to be a viable, virus-proof option. Apps for telemedicine reduce face-to-face encounters between people while bridging the gap between the patient, the doctor, and the healthcare system.

Telemedicine apps have facilitated virtual communication between doctors and patients throughout the present pandemic, assuring virus control. Telemedicine apps make healthcare professionals and patients less likely to catch COVID-19.

Convenience

Patients in need of urgent care require prompt attention to their medical concerns. That is guaranteed by telemedicine due to its convenience. Healthcare services are available to people in the convenience of their own homes. Turning on a computer and getting advice from a doctor on what treatments to use only requires the click of a button.

Faster Service

Patients now receive medical care more quickly than ever, thanks to telemedicine apps. The healthcare system responds to problems right away to enhance patient outcomes. These apps have adopted a patient-centered philosophy, leading to urgent treatment of higher caliber.

Specialized Attention

Patients can locate a list of specialized practitioners remotely using telemedicine apps. To obtain specialist home care services, one may be able to contact professionals using these applications. Additionally, because of their close contact, the professionals can provide important health information about environmental factors, such as patient allergic reactions or other urgent needs.

Reduced Costs

Patients may not be financially ready to cover treatment costs when they require urgent care. Telemedicine, on the other hand, reduces expenses like transportation, making healthcare services somewhat more affordable.

Final Words

The healthcare industry is gradually catching up with the rapid changes in technology. The globe should be more accepting of remote healthcare services because of the coronavirus outbreak. Nowadays, telemedicine and telehealth are essential due to the current global conditions. It is not only a secure means to deliver healthcare services, but it is also comparatively less expensive.