Can someone talk to me about Zoom tele-medicine appointment :-)

[mlktwins]

We have our first Zoom tele-medicine appointment at 2:30 today.  My son has a rash on both eyelids and under his eyes.  They wanted me to come in, but I declined.  I sent pictures and they agreed to a tele-medicine visit.  

So...I have Zoom downloaded on my laptop.  They have my Zoom email address.  Should they just be sending me a link or how does this work -- LOL?

My boys finished Spanish class using Zoom, but they were sent the links through Google Classroom and just clicked on and off they went.

Thanks so much!

[Storygirl]

We have done several telehealth appointments each week. They should send you a link through your email, and you can just click on that when it is time, or five minutes ahead. Then you should get a screen that has a button saying something like "join meeting with video" and you can push that when you are ready. Either the other person will pop right up on the screen, or you might get a message that they are not ready yet, in which case you just wait.

It's pretty easy, unless there are connection problems, which sometimes happens. If their image freezes or glitches, the people on the meeting can decide to log out and log back in to get a better connection, or sometimes after a couple of minutes, it corrects itself. Unless there are glitches, we have found Zoom to be pretty easy to use.

[Storygirl]

When we had an appointment with the children's hospital, we were also able to join through our son's online health portal account. If you are signed up for one of those, you might log in this morning and see if there is a spot there with links for telehealth appointments. I think they also sent a link to our regular email account, so we could join up with those meetings using either method.

[Lanny]

mlktwins:  You wrote that you have Downloaded Zoom onto your Laptop. I want to confirm that you have also installed it onto your Laptop.

 

[mlktwins]

1 minute ago, Lanny said:

mlktwins:  You wrote that you have Downloaded Zoom onto your Laptop. I want to confirm that you have also installed it onto your Laptop.

 

😲 I will go check -- LoL!  That wouldn't be good!  I do think it installed though.

[Tap]

Yep, like others have said, you should get an email link. This sounds silly, but not all laptops have a camera, so make sure the one you want to use has one. Clean your camera so there aren't a bunch of smudges on the other side (use a touch of alcohol or window cleaner if needed). This isn't a big deal for a regular chat, but for diagnosing it can help to have very clear images.  I like to set the camera on a stool if I am sitting somewhere like a couch so the camera on the laptop is about equal with our faces or slightly above. It is best to avoid being back lit, so try to not have an uncovered window behind you. Turn your camera on and try the location for lighting to make sure you can see the rash. You may need to change locations in the house or turn on lights to make the rash obvious on the screen. We have trouble doing video appointments in certain rooms of our house. We have to change rooms sometimes to avoid the Max Hedroom choppy video effect. 

Good luck!  I love doing virtual visits and really, really hope that we can continue for a while. For minor things it is wonderful to not have to leave the house. 

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

My office has an app that I downloaded and they use zoom through the app. About 10-15 minutes before my appointment they would call me and walk me through the steps of logging on to the app and then joining the zoom call (very easy to do but I’m assuming they do that for everyone to avoid problems). Then they test the video and audio before transferring the call to the doctor. It was very easy. 
 

ETA: My last appointment was for a rash that I suspected was Lyme. The doctor was able to see it well enough to feel that Lyme was probable and prescribed antibiotics. The whole thing from the office calling to my prescription being called in took about 15 minutes. I wouldn’t mind keeping the tele-med appointment option when all this is over. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by 2ndGenHomeschooler

[mlktwins]

2 hours ago, Tap said:

Yep, like others have said, you should get an email link. This sounds silly, but not all laptops have a camera, so make sure the one you want to use has one. Clean your camera so there aren't a bunch of smudges on the other side (use a touch of alcohol or window cleaner if needed). This isn't a big deal for a regular chat, but for diagnosing it can help to have very clear images.  I like to set the camera on a stool if I am sitting somewhere like a couch so the camera on the laptop is about equal with our faces or slightly above. It is best to avoid being back lit, so try to not have an uncovered window behind you. Turn your camera on and try the location for lighting to make sure you can see the rash. You may need to change locations in the house or turn on lights to make the rash obvious on the screen. We have trouble doing video appointments in certain rooms of our house. We have to change rooms sometimes to avoid the Max Hedroom choppy video effect. 

Good luck!  I love doing virtual visits and really, really hope that we can continue for a while. For minor things it is wonderful to not have to leave the house. 

I finally received a link.  It is a new laptop so we checked the camera and microphone yesterday (or I should say my son did -- LOL).  We are on soon so we will go now and make sure the lighting is right.  Thanks so much!

[mlktwins]

1 hour ago, 2ndGenHomeschooler said:

My office has an app that I downloaded and they use zoom through the app. About 10-15 minutes before my appointment they would call me and walk me through the steps of logging on to the app and then joining the zoom call (very easy to do but I’m assuming they do that for everyone to avoid problems). Then they test the video and audio before transferring the call to the doctor. It was very easy. 
 

ETA: My last appointment was for a rash that I suspected was Lyme. The doctor was able to see it well enough to feel that Lyme was probable and prescribed antibiotics. The whole thing from the office calling to my prescription being called in took about 15 minutes. I wouldn’t mind keeping the tele-med appointment option when all this is over. 

I hope they can see this well enough.  The pictures showed it really well too.  He has not been anywhere since March 13th?!?!?  Not sure what the heck this is.

[NorthwestMom]

2 hours ago, 2ndGenHomeschooler said:

 I wouldn’t mind keeping the tele-med appointment option when all this is over. 

 If you have a way to provide this feedback to your insurer, please do! I provide behavioral health advice via telemedicine due to the pandemic. We would love to  continue to have this option, but it depends on what services and mode of delivery insurance will cover.

[mlktwins]

OP here.  Thanks so much!  It went well and we think it is contact dermatitis.  Just need to get a script delivered and we should be good to go.