Worldwide telehealth video consultation or mobile healthcare apps are increasingly being used for easy access to quality medical care at affordable prices. In 2016 the market size for telemedicine apps was USD 2 billion dollars and this is expected to exceed USD 50 billion dollars by 2025.
Remote video consultation software or Telemedicine is a convenient way for patients to speak to doctors without making an in-person visit using an app or even just a phone call. Communication is in the form of text messages, video calls, emails, and related technologies. In other ways, telemedicine is also the way primary care doctors access or seek consultation with medical specialists over an app in a secure and encrypted environment.
Defining Video Consultation and scope
One of the quickest, easiest, and most accurate methods to access medical care is choosing video consulting services provided by your doctor/healthcare video consultants.
Video Consultation is defined as a specific form of telemedicine that uses a set of technologies to provide remote real-time visual and audio patient evaluation. The advantage of this virtual model of consultation is that it allows doctors and patients to communicate with ease even when geographically separated. Two ways of telemedicine video consultation process Telemedicine video consultation can be conducted in many ways.
Most times a telemedicine platform is used by patients to seek an appointment for a video consultation with a doctor using smartphones and tablets. In turn, the doctor uses the same platform and video call to ‘visually’ examine the patient and recommend appropriate courses of medical care.
The two most common ways to receive medical treatment are the following:
1. A Patient Portal
This is a gateway for patients to seek an appointment and other services from virtual health consultants. On these portals, patients are provided a username and password to send and receive emails from healthcare professionals – such as a nurse or a doctor. Using these they may seek appointments from the doctors treating them or ask for refilling their prescription all from the convenience of their home. At the same time, the concerned physician will also share the results of laboratory or X-Rays tests with their conclusions.
Therefore, such portals simplify the process of seeking medical opinion and care management without waiting on hold on conventional phone calls.
2. Digital Appointments
Many times, health consultants are open to using their smartphones or deploying video conferencing to make appointments. The convenience of video conferencing is that multiple stakeholders can participate in the consultation process as in the case of mental health providers or behavioral management providers along with urgent care centers.
Hence Video consultation with your doctor can be completed easily with either of the two processes.
- Video consultations give fast access to diagnosis for most common conditions like back pain, headache, sore throat.
- It is ideal for follow-up on chronic care after treatment.
- Easy to seek prescriptions for refilling medications.
- Ideal for emergency consultation when traveling.
- The most important factor is when patients are not able to leave their homes due to extreme sickness or bad weather.
- It cannot be used for certain kinds of emergencies like broken bones.
- Even heart attacks and strokes are typically not handled over telemedicine.
However, if a primary healthcare professional is with the patient and has access to the heart patient’s vital health information then cardiac specialists may be consulted via telemedicine. But this type of consultation may be an exception rather than the norm.
What are the requirements for a Telemedicine Video Consultation Set-Up
For an organized approach to setting-up telemedicine video consultation set-up, the following requirements are considered mandatory.
The consultation infrastructure should be set up as follows:
- Privacy should be primary.
- Secure arrangements without entry of third parties.
- Adequate lighting for video display is necessary.
- A simple backdrop without distractions is important.
- Necessary medical devices should be accessible.
- Signs that indicate “No Disturbance “ should be displayed.
- Back-up phones should be available in case of network issues.
- Tech infrastructure should be well supported with needed software and hardware accessories, including video display screens.
- A high-quality web camera is very important.
- Powerful microphone with echo-canceling.
- Technical support during the process of the video consultation should be always available.
Why should Mirrofly Video Consultation be your solution?
CONTUS MirrorFly carries full-stack functionality for a remote video consultation with doctors. We have worked on building features into our API and SDK such that your services are HIPAA compliant. We have ensured all your messages and media files are secured during transmission by incorporating Point-to-Point encryption, including AES-256, and secure communication with TLS and SSL.
Thus, video API-driven solutions are changing telecommunication technologies, simplifying the delivery of medical care to every patient. It has helped lower the costs of care and more importantly ensures healthcare is accessible 24 X 7 independent of the physical locations of the medical professional or the patient. Hence, it has become imperative that hospitals, clinics, and healthcare entities apart from doctors, nurses, radiologists, and tertiary caregivers transition to virtual medical care technologies. Telemedicine and video consultations are just the tip of artificial intelligence and its applications!
Use video consultation software to improve the reach of your medicare professionals!
