Telemedicine is all about making healthcare more accessible for everyone, whether rich or poor. It’s a two way real time communication between a patient and a doctor using both audio and video technology. Our healthcare system has been facing crisis regarding providing every patient whether remote or nearby the best medical care possible and telemedicine is gradually becoming the perfect solution. Telemedicine can be the change our health industry needs which will provide every patient with access to improved healthcare and improved health outcomes in cost effective manner.

Reasons to know about Telemedicine

Telemedicine can revolutionize the way medicine is being practiced by various health professionals and can become the number one source to get more and more sick people healed in time. There might be some people who would use telemedicine just because they are curious but there also might be people whose only way of communicating with the outside world is through a phone or a tablet and telemedicine can help them in a big way. There are more than five reasons why people should be more aware about telemedicine and how using it can have a positive effect on our lives. Here we have discussed the five major advantages of telemedicine.

1)   Lower cost – save up on your money

The Alliance of Connected Care researchers conducted a study which showed that it costs a lot to visit a doctor’s office and telemedicine can help you save up to $100 or even more. The study conducted by the Alliance which is a nonprofit organization tells us that a visit to the doctor can cost about $136 to $176 dollars. Telemedicine reduces the cost to $40 to $50. The study shows that Telemedicine can actually become the change agent when it comes to what health care costs people.

2)   It’s faster, more convenient and totally comfortable

There are many patients who can avail immediate relief if they are diagnosed faster and some patients only need to order prescription drugs online following the telemedicine session. With telemedicine you don’t have to wait on the phone for the reservation clerk to find you an available appointment slot; you don’t have to wait in the waiting room or wait for the doctor to get free. If you live in a remote area or the clinic or the hospital is far from your place, you don’t have to travel for a long time to visit the doctor. There are various telehealth companies which provide safe telemedicine consultations where you are comfortable about sharing your symptoms without worrying about someone else listening in. The walls of the clinic can be thinner than you think!

3)   Reduced Risk Factor

A waiting room can expose people to more germs and infections than you might want to believe. There are various transmitting contagious diseases like sinusitis, skin inflammation, eye infections, cold or even flu which can easily spread to others during your visit to the doctor’s office. Telemedicine makes it possible to reduce the chances of a sick person infecting other people. The hospital or a clinic is actually the place with more risk of you getting infected with a disease or the germs of your infectious disease spreading rapidly to unsuspecting patients and healthcare workers.

4)   Collaboration of Health Care Professionals – A better diagnosis

Telemedicine has made it possible to connect the patient with more than one doctor to determine the disease and treating it effectively. Consulting more than one health professional at the same time actually helps. The doctors can share medical records, texts and X- rays etc. of a patient with each other at the same time, thanks to electronic media and they can then more quickly discuss the patient’s condition, share their theories and come up with a better diagnosis and treatment. This actually helps when the patient is in a remote area, in severe distress and needs immediate diagnosis and treatment which will help rather than make the situation more dangerous.

5)   Follow up care is more easier

Through conferencing a medical professional can check up on the patient, monitor the healing progress without having the patient travel to a clinic or a hospital to get checked up. In rural areas where the availability of doctors is scarce and proper care of a patient can be a problem. Telemedicine solves the problem of accessing the follow up care needed by the patient and can also sometimes reduce the amount needed.

So, to make your life easier, you should know that you don’t have to run to the doctor’s office every time you’re ill. Save time and money by getting cured at home!