Telehealth Peer Wellness

Telehealth 101 – What to Expect From Your Telemedicine Visit

Telemedicine Appointment

No one enjoys getting sick or visiting a doctor, for that matter, as they fear exposing themselves to infectious germs while waiting in a room full of other sick people. That’s where we find telehealth useful. It bridges the gap between patients and physicians by enabling everyone to stay at home and communicate with doctors through virtual channels.

According to the latest research, the global telemedicine market is valued at a whopping $30 billion, with an expected rise totaling almost $172 billion by the year 2026. Modern technology allows you met with a physician remotely through internet channels without the fuss of going to a clinic or hospital and having to wait while you feel ill.

Many prominent players have emerged in the telemedicine market, which has found their dedicated niche, catering to patients in every corner of the world. However, to make telemedicine more mainstream and gain the patients’ trust, it is important to educate people on what they can expect from a telemedicine appointment.

Therefore, here are some pointers for people to understand what they can expect from a telemedicine visit.

Getting the Appointment Scheduled

Just like any regular doctor visit, you’ll have to schedule your telemedicine appointment with the physician or specialist you want to see. However, you will be asked to specify whether a voice call would do or you would want to have a video call carried out in this case. Once you have confirmed your preferences, you would be asked to put in certain details like your identification, address, and date of birth, as well as your contact information, so that you are duly notified and reminded of your appointment accordingly. Next, you should expect timely notifications and reminders till your appointment date, and on the scheduled date and time, you should have an established online connection to make the voice or video call with your preferred doctor.

Getting Your Medical History Sorted

There is a high chance that you would be required to submit your previous medical history and records to schedule your appointment if it is the very first time you are contacting the service provider. However, many hospitals, clinics, and even health experts themselves have started to provide telehealth appointments. So if you are a regular patient for an entity, your medical history records should be saved in the data reserves of the individual or the hospital. Therefore, you can verify the information, and you would be good to go for the scheduled telehealth appointment.

Questions & Answers

Now suppose that you are on your scheduled appointment with your preferred physician through a video call. The next step would be the doctor going through your medical history and records that you have either provided or were saved with the doctor or their hospital. The chances are that if you are a regular patient for the doctor, they might already know and recognize you and would not require that much of a back and forth. However, if you are a new patient or have developed a new health concern, then the doctor would have a detailed question and answer session with you to clarify the matter at hand and proceed forwards.

Regular Glitches

After all, you are not having a consultation in person and connected via the internet. So there are high chances that you experience bad video or voice quality and glitches due to weak connection or poor internet signals. However, it is best not to make the situation awkward or worry too much about it as it is a given with the new nature of the medium you are connected through. But if you are on a time crunch and your doctor has allotted you a time frame to provide consultation, it is better to find the perfect spot at home where the internet signals don’t ditch you or connect through a private tether or hotspot.

Consultation and Diagnosis

After the doctor is done getting answers to all the necessary questions, understanding your medical background, and cleared all doubts whatsoever, they will proceed with either or all of the following:

Getting Your Updated Medical Records

After your appointment is completed and you have the concluding results, you will receive your updated medical records complete with anything the current doctor moves forward with. For instance, your appointment was with an orthopedic, and they suggest you take a new medicine after conclusive test reports. So your medical records would compile the test results and show up the next time your schedule a telemedicine appointment.

Billing

Chances are, you would have been made to pay an advance amount to schedule your appointment, and the remainder of the total amount would be paid after you are done with your appointment. As it is an online telemedicine visit, your billing would also be made through online channels like PayPal or any other medium like direct bank deposits.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, going through these pointers of what you can expect from a telemedicine appointment has given you some idea of how this aspect of healthcare is very normal and humane despite being a new and modern method of receiving healthcare.

Telehealth Peer Wellness is one such platform that provides a fast, secure and reliable medium for telemedicine consultations for doctors and patients alike. Request a demo at TelehealthPeerWellness.com to connect with us right away.

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