Healthcare is moving online, don’t be left behind.
What if there was a way to receive healthcare without leaving your house and facing long traffic hours?
What if you could skip the hospital waiting rooms like those VIPs we secretly envy? There is a way, and it is all tied to the emergence of telemedicine services.
What is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine provides a new pathway for healthcare in which patients can receive clinical care and monitoring remotely, using modern telecommunications technology. Telemedicine is the result of a merger between healthcare delivery and modern technology.
Why Telemedicine?
In the past decade, the idea of contactless healthcare may not have been as welcome. The confidence of seeing a doctor in an in-person visit would have had to suffice even in the face of apparent challenges like long commute time, shortage of doctors, limited choices, the possibility of contracting infections, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020 and has tipped the balance. A survey showed that 68% of patients either cancelled or postponed an in-person clinic visit during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The emergence of telemedicine services is a great response to the pandemic’s challenges. It will slowly but surely revolutionize healthcare.
Telemedicine offers consultations, diagnosis, and treatment of minor and severe illnesses through video calls between doctors and patients. The absence of contact is one of the telemedicine benefits highlighted by the pandemic.
Without commuting or the apparent danger of visiting a hospital waiting room, patients can get healthcare delivered to them.
Benefits of Telemedicine
A recent survey showed that 90% of respondents who have had a telemedicine appointment were likely to schedule another telemedicine appointment over an in-person visit. The reasons for this highly positive response can be seen in the many benefits of Telemedicine.
Here are a few reasons you should embrace Telemedicine;
Convenience and accessibility to patients
Convenience is a crucial motivator to many decisions, and an option for comfort and privacy for meeting health needs will be an obvious winner.
Telemedicine offers convenience as patients can access doctors without getting on the road or taking a day off work. Leading telemedicine providers like Doctall (Link to Doctall Website) give the added benefit of secure cloud storage of medical information, which can be conveniently reeled out at any time.
Minimizes healthcare cost
Nigeria’s private spending on healthcare is projected to reach N4.284BN by 2021, with some spending referred to as avoidable costs. With Telemedicine, unnecessary ER visits can be reduced, and typical doctor visits will become more efficient. You only pay for what you need, and self-care is encouraged. The result is an overall reduction in healthcare costs.
Extends access to a variety of options
With telemedicine services, patients are exposed to various options, including niche medical specialists, clinics, and testing centres, from a single app or access point. Telemedicine makes it easier for patients in remote areas to access specialized treatments like cancer treatment without leaving where they are.
Slows the spread of infection
COVID-19 posed new challenges, and social distancing became a primary preventive precaution. Getting healthcare without visiting a hospital waiting room reduces your risk of exposure to COVID-19 and other infections.
In this decade, the trajectory of healthcare delivery has been defined by the emergence of telemedicine platforms offering alternatives to in-person visits. To enjoy your first telemedicine visit, download the Doctall app.
