The pandemic has taught us that technology can bring us together, connect. To bring people, services and services directly to our home, in a virtual way. And some of the changes we’ve experienced over the past few months are bound to stay with us even when the virus finally stops frightening. Especially in the field of health, where telemedicine has proved to be fundamental in bridging the gap between doctors and patients during the long months of lockdown, at the same time revealing incredible opportunities to improve people’s quality of life even with the return to normality: by streamlining queues and waiting lists, simplifying screening and monitoring, improving diagnosis and treatment skills. Here are 10 examples of how telemedicine is revolutionizing our relationship with healthcare.
1. Screening e televisite
With the arrival of the pandemic, hospitals and family doctors have begun to use online questionnaires, specialized call centers and televised to carry out the triage and monitoring of patients with suspected Covid-19. But that’s not all: these tools have proved to be very useful for involving patients and reducing the length of hospitalization for other pathologies as well. A few examples? Online lifestyle coaching can help you better prepare for surgery to shorten your post-operative hospital stay. And with remote follow-up, patients can be discharged faster, allowing them to spend their convalescence in the comfort of their homes, but under the watchful eye of the doctor.
2. Online reservations and virtual waiting rooms
If we can book travel, hotels, cinemas and restaurants online, why not do the same for medical visits and hospitalizations? In fact, online programming is also spreading to the healthcare world. Thanks to digital technologies, in the coming years it will be increasingly common to schedule a specialist visit just as we reserve a table at a restaurant, choosing the date and time from those available, reporting needs and problems. In this way, reservations will become more flexible and bureaucratic procedures will also become virtual, with acceptance procedures carried out, for example, by message. A sort of virtual waiting room, in short, already experienced in many hospitals around the world during the pandemic, which could soon become the norm, allowing patients to avoid waiting in crowded rooms or queuing outside hospitals.
3. Imaging a distanza
Obviously, telemedicine is not only at the service of the patient, but also allows to improve communication between specialists, offering clinicians new and innovative ways to collaborate, even at a distance of many kilometers. A good example is the field of radiology, where new tools are arriving that allow more experienced radiologists to train, guide and assist younger or less experienced colleagues remotely, speeding up diagnoses and minimizing the need for repeat non-routine scans. necessary. With this “virtualization” of medical imaging in the future, the possibilities of accessing advanced technologies, such as magnetic resonance and CT scans, which can be performed more easily near the home and at more flexible hours, will also expand.
4. Faster reports
The ability to share images and medical analyzes remotely offers another great advantage for patients: speed. If today it is sometimes necessary to wait days, or weeks, to receive the reports of a CT scan or an X-ray, in the future the specialist will be able to analyze the images remotely and in real time, providing his own response within hours, if not minutes. . A change that for patients, especially in the more peripheral areas where specialized personnel may be in short supply, will result in a net gain in quality of life, avoiding long waits, often accompanied by stress and anxiety.
5. Distance education
In medicine, it is often the case that in-depth knowledge of new procedures is limited to a small group of specialists. Typically, these experts would need to be physically present in an operating room to provide a less experienced physician with field training. But thanks to virtual collaboration, which has received an important boost in the last two years, it is increasingly easier to guide a colleague even from a distance, following the interventions directly, via webcams mounted on the ceiling of the operating room, or providing advice through teleconsultation systems. . The first experiences with cloud-based forms of collaboration were very encouraging: an experienced physician in Canada, for example, successfully supervised the first use, in the United States, of a new type of implant to treat brain aneurysms. , through bidirectional audiovisual streaming.
6. Virtual Intensive Care
Intensive care will also soon be revolutionized by the arrival of telemedicine. The model that is spreading is that of the so-called hub and spoke, that is, highly specialized central structures (the hubs) that coordinate the activity of the peripheral structures (the spokes). In this way, acting almost like an air traffic control center, the intensivists and nurses in the central hub use high-definition cameras, telemetry and advanced data visualization to assist their colleagues in the ICU bed, wherever they are. find, and can alert teams to early signs of patient deterioration, allowing them to intervene quickly when needed. Before the pandemic, this model had already proven its worth in addressing cases where ICUs are in short supply. For example, through an intercontinental collaboration in which a team in Australia can keep an eye on patients in a US hospital, thus also reducing fatigue related to night shifts, given the difference in time zones.
7. Wearable biosensors
Ever smaller, more discreet, comfortable, but capable of measuring and transmitting vital signals such as heart and respiratory rate, activity level and posture, which allow you to remotely monitor the state of health of patients. They are wearable biosensors, tools that have proved invaluable in avoiding unnecessary risks for doctors and patients during the months of the pandemic, and which in the future could help minimize the need to go to the hospital for checks and controls, and support monitoring. remote chronic diseases such as BPCO or diabetes by moving healthcare to the patient’s home. The potential benefits are evident: greater comfort for the patient, a reduction in the costs of care, diagnosis and interventions that are increasingly timely, at the first signs of a problem.
8. Tele-pregnancy
Expectant mothers are also destined to benefit from new monitoring technologies, especially in the case of high-risk pregnancies. Wireless pads and patches with disposable electrodes placed on the woman’s abdomen allow, for example, to monitor the vital signs of the mother and baby from a distance, to reduce unnecessary checks. Even at the end of the pandemic, these solutions are likely to find increasing popularity, because remote obstetric monitoring offers high-risk women greater peace of mind, allowing a close connection with health care workers who take care of them without the need for frequent visits to the hospital. hospital.
9. The virtual dentist
Tele-dentistry allows patients to consult a licensed dentist via a mobile application, from the comfort of their home and without having to make an appointment. By sharing high-resolution photos of their teeth and pointing out specific concerns, you can get a personalized assessment and practical advice for keeping your teeth and gums healthy. Many dentists have switched to virtual consultations in the wake of the pandemic, and have begun to appreciate its benefits, such as being able to stay in touch with patients between visits, monitoring the progression of gum disease and other oral health problems. , and evaluating the effects of treatments even at a distance. In addition, many medical insurers have noticed this new way of treating patients by offering reimbursement for virtual consultations at zero additional costs for policyholders.
10. More health for all
Regardless of how many giant steps medicine takes in industrialized countries, there are areas of the planet where the most elementary health facilities are still a mirage. But telemedicine can also prove invaluable in resolving these inequalities. The lack of qualified personnel – for example – can be resolved through teleconsultations, which allow experienced doctors to lend their experience to help the populations of less developed nations. And also thanks to remote training, which allows you to train healthcare and non-health personnel, through online training courses, without the need for travel.