Telemedicine experiences

[City Mouse]

I am interested to hear about other’s experiences with telemedicine.  Early on in the pandemic, I did have a phone call appointment for or about my DS, but it was with our regular provider and the reason was relatively minor so I did not have a problem with it.

I have been in desperate need of an eye exam and new glasses for quite some time. I live in an area that was already facing problems and long waits due to lack of medical providers. The Eye place that I normally use is a satellite of a main office that is in another state, and they have closed all the satellite locations for now. I tried calling some providers in a small city that is 2hrs from home but even those offices are scheduled many, many weeks out. 
A few days ago I was in that city for a different reason and happened upon Stanton Optical which I think may be a small chain. I was able to get in immediately for an eye exam. There regular service model is telemedicine. An assistant does the initial screening (tells you where to sit and turns on each machine at the correct time) much like my regular provider. Then for the exam Where you look through the lenses and the dr says “which is better? One or two.” The doctor was not physically in the room. She was up on a screen and I was alone in the room. The lense thingy that you look through is controlled remotely by the doctor. In order to do the near vision testing (for my bifocals) the dr contacts the assistant remotely and has her come into the room to switch out the equipment, then she leaves and we finish the test. It was a very Interesting experience, and seemed to be just as good as my regular place, but I won’t know for sure until I get the glasses. 

I had some time to talk to the clerk who was helping me with glasses, and I asked about the location of the doctors. The main doctor is in Texas but the person who did my exam is in Florida. For them the only things that have changed as far as how the do exams due to the pandemic is wearing masks and reducing the number off people waiting. (I was the only one there).  

overall, I was pleased with the experience and think that the forced telemedicine due to the pandemic may encourage other types of medical fields to create equipment  that makes telemedicine more practical. While not all parts of medicine cloud be done remotely, I can imagine how telemedicine could really help areas like mine where the are not enough medical professionals. It might then be possible to not have to schedule an appointment with the allergist 10-12 months in advance.

 

Please share your experiences with telemedicine good or bad.

[Pen]

10 minutes ago, City Mouse said:

I am interested to hear about other’s experiences with telemedicine.  Early on in the pandemic, I did have a phone call appointment for or about my DS, but it was with our regular provider and the reason was relatively minor so I did not have a problem with it.

I have been in desperate need of an eye exam and new glasses for quite some time. I live in an area that was already facing problems and long waits due to lack of medical providers. The Eye place that I normally use is a satellite of a main office that is in another state, and they have closed all the satellite locations for now. I tried calling some providers in a small city that is 2hrs from home but even those offices are scheduled many, many weeks out. 
A few days ago I was in that city for a different reason and happened upon Stanton Optical which I think may be a small chain. I was able to get in immediately for an eye exam. There regular service model is telemedicine. An assistant does the initial screening (tells you where to sit and turns on each machine at the correct time) much like my regular provider. Then for the exam Where you look through the lenses and the dr says “which is better? One or two.” The doctor was not physically in the room. She was up on a screen and I was alone in the room. The lense thingy that you look through is controlled remotely by the doctor. In order to do the near vision testing (for my bifocals) the dr contacts the assistant remotely and has her come into the room to switch out the equipment, then she leaves and we finish the test. It was a very Interesting experience, and seemed to be just as good as my regular place, but I won’t know for sure until I get the glasses. 

I had some time to talk to the clerk who was helping me with glasses, and I asked about the location of the doctors. The main doctor is in Texas but the person who did my exam is in Florida. For them the only things that have changed as far as how the do exams due to the pandemic is wearing masks and reducing the number off people waiting. (I was the only one there).  

overall, I was pleased with the experience and think that the forced telemedicine due to the pandemic may encourage other types of medical fields to create equipment  that makes telemedicine more practical. While not all parts of medicine cloud be done remotely, I can imagine how telemedicine could really help areas like mine where the are not enough medical professionals. It might then be possible to not have to schedule an appointment with the allergist 10-12 months in advance.

 

Please share your experiences with telemedicine good or bad.

 

Wow! That is cool!

 

I had one telemedicine visit. I liked it better than in person.  But it was not anything that took special equipment. 

 

 

[Ali in OR]

My first experience with telemedicine went well. Dd's neurologist is in another town and she was due for her yearly visit in June. We have an established relationship and were able to discuss everything I wanted to cover. All without 2 hours of driving! But I did keep it simple. I decided we're not trying any changes to her meds this year (last summer we got most of the through tapering her off one of her meds, but also dealt with lots of seizures). They also asked if we wanted to see a new doctor in their practice since dd is now an adult (she sees a pediatric neurologist still). But for meeting a new doctor and going through dd's history, I will wait until we can do an appointment in person. I think telemedicine could have been used for many of her out-of-town follow-up appointments over the years quite successfully, but sometimes you really do need to see someone in person (like all of her Shriners appointments).

[G5052]

Wow! That's interesting. I'm putting off my eye exam for now because they're all face-to-face in my area. I had one last summer and decided that I could safely skip a year.

I've had telemedicine visits with my sleep doctor and my allergy/asthma doctor. The sleep doctor gets my data from my CPAP electronically, show she showed me her screen with the graphics. The asthma doctor would normally do a breathing test but asked about my home readings and medication schedule. It worked fine for a 4-month recheck.

I had a physical not long ago and went in for that. He told me up front that if I had any long questions that he preferred phone calls for safety reasons, but got all the basics done with a quick in-and-out. 

[AmandaVT]

We've had a few telemedicine appts - pre-COVID, I used it through american well which is covered by my insurance company. I had  UTI and it was like 10pm on a Friday night. Talked to a Dr, he diagnosed me through video chat and I was able to pick up a prescription first thing in the morning. Kept me out of urgent care that weekend, and considering it was flu season, probably also kept me from getting whatever crud was in the waiting room. 

DS used it with his dr for a med check a month or so ago - much easier than driving 45 min to the office! 

DH is a therapist and has been seeing clients exclusively through telemedicine since March. Clients love it, DH loves it - he was able to continue his practice and COVID stay at home regulations without a problem. Once the stay at home order came down, he kept going to the office, but clients didn't come in. VT still only wants providers to see people in person only when very necessary so the practice is still all virtual right now. 

[Lanny]

@City Mouse

Your experience with the Telemedicine appointment with an Optometrist was interesting.  I have no experience with Telemedicine, but my Stepson had a Telemedicine appointment with (I think) an Orthopedic (?)  doctor (M.D.) approximately 2 months ago.  I was extremely surprised at the time that it was a Telemedicine appointment, but don't recall him ever complaining about the fact that it was Telemedicine. In his case, he has a recurring problem in his  Spine, about a Disc and has in the past 5 (?) years had  2 surgeries.

I personally am avoiding going to the Dentist to get my teeth cleaned, or to return to the G.P. M.D.  I saw in late February to bring the results of the lab tests I had early in March before the Covid-19 hit the wall and I need to have Cataract surgery on one eye. I am over 70, so trying to avoid very close contacts like that, because I am very conscious of the vulnerability of people 70+ due to the very strict quarantine the Colombian government has us under until September 1st.

Although I have no personal experience with  a Telemedicine appointment it seems like a positive thing in the age of Covid-19 and for those who live a long way from their doctor(s) if those long drives can be avoided, that saves time and money and wear and tear on the car.

 

[Ottakee]

Positives and negatives.

I did a telemed consult with a doctor about covid antibody testing...very good.  I did a telemed visit with my primary care doctor to discuss test results and various treatment options.  Since I had just seen her in person for an exam and the tests/procedures, telemed worked great and we had more time to chat.

Telemed with the neurologist....so so.  It was ok but if there had been any issues hands on would have been much better.

Telemed with psychiatrist for a few of mine....so so.  I think that small subtlies could be missed so not a fan of telemed for this.

[stephanier.1765]

I've only done it once. I need to see a doc every 3 months to get one of my prescriptions renewed. There wasn't a single doctor on the list of people to choose from in the virtual waiting room. Everyone listed was a nurse, PA, or an intern. I have nothing against any of those but this definitely was not me seeing my doctor because when I do see him we go over everything that's been going on with me the last 3 months. I've been in much more pain than usual and I've had a hard time dealing with the stress of the whole Covid situation. But when the intern came up, she asked a general how are you question, asked why I was there, and then asked some off the wall drug side effect question and that was it. Normally, I would bring up anything out of the ordinary but the video quality was so bad that the effort just didn't seem worth it. I did get my medicine approved which was really the biggest issue and I'm both glad and relieved. I'm calling my experience a draw. Not anywhere near the quality of a regular visit but I did get my medicine.

Your experience sounds awesome. I would love to see more of that.

[Pippen]

All good, so far.

I had a telephone visit with an orthopedic surgeon right as we were going to lock down. It was my first appointment and it went well. He asked a lot of questions about my symptoms and got enough info to prescribe physical therapy which I did virtually at first. Several months later I went for an in person visit and he did imagining and made a definitive diagnosis. 

I also had a phone visit with my endocrinologist. She had my labs and my condition is in remission so it wasn't a complicated situation. 

One of my kids did a video visit with a doctor provided through our insurance company. In that case the doctor wasn't able to tell what was going on without an in-person visit. She did suggest some at home treatment options which did help.

[Spryte]

Wow, what a great way to do an eye exam!

I love televisits.  

I take my elderly mom to all appts, and they’ve all been converted to televisits.  We’ve seen her neurologist, psychiatrist, the orthopedic specialist, and her family practice.  All went well.  The ortho would have liked one more round of xrays, but didn’t want to risk it.

My son has had three follow ups with a specialist, and I’ve had two visits with family medicine.  Easy peasy.

(Most of our visits have been video on the computer, one was a phone call.)

Oh, and having known my regular doc for almost 20 yrs, we text directly.  She has helped me via text and spontaneous phone calls on weekends several times.  Once from a camping trip.  She saved me from an ER trip.  🙂

[Terabith]

We’ve had, as a family, a bunch of tele psychiatrist visits (awesome and hope we never have another in person visit again), a GP tele visit for a sinus infection (excellent).  I would have thought eye doctor would have been hard but that sounds great.  I’m always kind of uncomfortable even in non covid time with how close everyone is.  That sounds fantastic.  

[Ottakee]

55 minutes ago, Terabith said:

We’ve had, as a family, a bunch of tele psychiatrist visits (awesome and hope we never have another in person visit again), a GP tele visit for a sinus infection (excellent).  I would have thought eye doctor would have been hard but that sounds great.  I’m always kind of uncomfortable even in non covid time with how close everyone is.  That sounds fantastic.  

Glad those worked out for you.

Even though I had the driving, I would prefer in person psychiatrist visit....so.mamy little nuances that an experienced pdoc can pick up in person but might be missed if connection is a bit fuzzy or staticy, etc.

I am a bit more leery of lots of telemed (although I had 2 good consult visits where telemed was very good) as my kids tend to be the zebras on the quote "when you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras"....meaning they do the rare, virtually unheard of, etc. Instead of the common stuff 

[scbusf]

Great experiences here so far. I think a HUGE pro is the fact that a mom could do a telemedicine appt for her or a kid without having to drag alllll the kids to a germy doctors office. Also, I can go to my counseling appt even if I have a sick kid.

[Terabith]

11 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

Glad those worked out for you.

Even though I had the driving, I would prefer in person psychiatrist visit....so.mamy little nuances that an experienced pdoc can pick up in person but might be missed if connection is a bit fuzzy or staticy, etc.

I am a bit more leery of lots of telemed (although I had 2 good consult visits where telemed was very good) as my kids tend to be the zebras on the quote "when you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras"....meaning they do the rare, virtually unheard of, etc. Instead of the common stuff 

Yeah, my psychiatrist is blind, so there's less difference than most.  Husband and kid have had televisits, but they're pretty typical anxiety and it's mostly just a "Yup, another refill for husband," and calibration of dosage for kid, who was fine pre lockdown and is mostly situational but meds are the tool we've got.  

I have a GYN appointment this week, and I'm glad that one is in person.