The world has, in a sense, stepped into a new age. The COVID-19 pandemic from a few years ago led to a quarantine. This, in turn, forced us to find new ways of living our lives, and one of the solutions we came up with was telehealth. 

In 2019, just over 15% of doctors had any kind of telehealth appointments. Two years later, that number had jumped to over 85%. This leads to a much greater question: how telehealth appointments work post-pandemic. 

Is the televisit just a trend or does it have staying power? We’ll discuss that here.

Virtual Visit

How does a virtual visit work? How does a doctor do their job over a video call? The answer is that there are some limitations, and certain procedures might always need to be performed in-office. For instance, we’ll never be able to get emergency care without leaving home. 

The goal of a virtual visit is to give the doctor an opportunity to monitor a patient’s health in a convenient and straightforward way. These appointments rely on the honor system, but that isn’t as big of a problem as one might think. While a majority of patients do lie to their doctors, they lie about very specific topics.

A patient might lie about lifestyle choices. However, when it comes to actual health concerns, people tend to be honest. Most people would rather tell their doctor about a problem and potentially get treatment for it.

One field that could be completely revolutionized by telemedicine is psychology. People are embracing therapy in its various forms more than ever. Talk therapy is one of the most common types of therapy, and there’s no reason it can’t be done through a videocall. 

Popularity

A televisit might be more convenient, but it’s not the only reason for the popularity of audio and video appointments. Patient privacy also comes into play.

While doctors are trained to respect their patients’ privacy, there’s something about being in their own homes and on their own terms that makes people feel more comfortable. While you do have roommates, partners, or parents to navigate, it should be more comfortable than sitting in an empty office where anyone could come in if they wanted. 

Cost is another factor that makes telehealth so appealing. It seems like every day now we hear someone complaining about how expensive medical care is. While telehealth on its own won’t solve that problem, it has been shown to reduce costs for the providers.

Patients also save money because they don’t have to drive to and from doctors’ offices or take days off work to go to the doctor. They can take a break to videocall their doctor and be back to work in an hour or less.

How a Televisit Could Change Medicine

The televisit is a somewhat new development in medicine, but it’s catching on. We’ve discussed a few reasons for that in this article, but there’s always more to learn.

You can read more about psychology and therapy on our blog. If you’re looking for therapy in the Idaho Falls area, read about us at Pearl Health Clinic. We’re happy to help.