Online consultations have been operational for several years now but its use has risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm, starting in 2020. Online consultations have more than proved their worth in helping to diffuse some of the effects of the pandemic. The medical world realised the potential usage and worth of remote consultations. With increasing access to more reliable information technology – specifically stable internet services and user friendly mobile devices, healthcare outreaches to remote areas have become much more effective and widespread, not just for city dwellers. This method of treatment also helps to relieve the strain on the private and public health care systems and allows patients to avail themselves of routine services that may have become cumbersome due to crowded doctors’ offices and health care facilities.
Online consultations are not intended to do away with personal one-on-one consultations, but rather to be a valuable practical aid to the medical system. Whilst they have been in use for several years, the pandemic has catapulted into the forefront, the important part that the use of remote consultations could play in such a scenario.
The practical use of remote consultations during the pandemic was truly invaluable. It reduced the spread of COVID-19 tremendously, as patients with non-severe symptoms could be treated off-site, thus avoiding the further spread of the contagion. Using tele-medicine, chat-rooms, video-meetings, and any other on-line avenues of communication, the need for physical meetings has been partially circumvented. This method has also proven to be very economical and efficient for both the healthcare provider and the patient. Needless to say, this method of diagnosis and treatment only happens if the ailment is not severe, and the clinic or doctor does not see the necessity for an office or site visit.
Covid 19 has propelled the use of digital services to the fore-front, and digital health services has proven its use and efficacy in the use of a pandemic. Digital services have proven to be well positioned as part of a solution to handle and respond to any such further recurrence of outbreaks, whether at a local, regional, or world-wide level.
One report submitted in 2020 indicated that telecommunications and online consultations had improved patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. The elderly have also been encouraged by the harsh realities of the pandemic to make good use of online medical communication. The above report stated that where only 8% of the elderly in France availed the remote consultations via tele-communications in pre-pandemic times, this rose to 20% of the elderly population using it during the lock-down period, and the trend seems to be continuing ever since. The shift-over to usef telecommunications and on-line health care is being embraced by many European countries, clinics, doctors, hospitals, and patients, even after the pandemic. As of April 2022, the COVID-19 virus is still considered a pandemic, and as such, the use of digital software as a tool in fighting against such outbreaks will continue to have a vital role in health care. Chances are that on-line medicine, tele-medicine and virtual consultations are here to stay. It will be quite interesting to see what new avenues and methods will be conceived for the future use of digital health to help provide digital solutions in the health care sector.
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