The Doctor Will Skype You Now 97
amkkhan writes Next time you need to go to the doctor, instead of making an appointment, why not just fire up your smartphone? New programs by companies such as Doctor on Demand and the University of Pittsburgh's AnywhereCare offer one-on-one conferencing with doctors, either over the phone or through video on your phone or computer – giving you all the medical advice you need without having to set foot in a doctor's office. This new breed of checkup, known as telemedicine, has the opportunity to revolutionize personal health, says Pat Basu, chief medical officer of Doctor on Demand and a former Stanford University physician. "Two of the most important skills we use as physicians are looking and listening," he says. "Video conferencing lets me use those skills and diagnose things like colds, coughs and even sprains in a manner more convenient for you."
Not the target audience... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I go in for something specific, physical contact becomes more specific. How can a doctor palpitate my chest, or listen to my lungs, over Skype?
Then you're not the target audience for this service.
It's targeting:
- The anxious people ("Doctor, the tip of my nose is itchy a bit, am I gonna die ?!") where 99% of the time all you need is to ask them and make sure that there are no other worrying symptoms and reassure them and ask them to come to the office if it persists longer than a week ("Has half of you face melted? No? Then it's definitely *not* Noma, no need to panic. Come see me if next week if it still does persist").
- The very simply common disease that are basically just about renewing the supply of self-medications ("Why do you bother coming here for a common cold?", "But doctor, I'm out of acetaminophene.", "ah, okay. here's your prescription.")
- The recurring simple infection that are actually damn easy to diagnose (e.g.: women who have often bladder infections can very easily recognise them. No new alarming symptom that wasn't there last time? It will probably go away with a simple drug) (e.g.: boyfriend has some bacterial STD? girlfriend needs a prescription to protect her too, and if she doesn't have any symptoms at all, she doesn't require an actual visit to the doctor beyond a few question about allergies).
If you break your leg in an accident, there's no way that a skype conversation will help you.
Well, actually speaking about what you said (needing to listening the lungs, etc) it might work the other way around: there are some people (call them "hyper"-chondriacs if you will) that tend to downplay symptoms because they don't want to bother loosing time going to the doctor's and think that the symptoms will wear of. If you provide them with a phone-line maybe some of them will think giving a call isn't that much bothersome, and will at least call the doctor. That also means that doctor can take the opportunity to explain to them that the thing is a little bit more serious than they've taught and persuade them that maybe it would be good to drop by the office for a more thorough check (or directly rush to the ER).