Posted on 01/01/2021 5:49:21 AM PST by Kaslin
The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a huge push for telemedicine, a means by which patients can "visit" their doctor without risking exposure to illness in waiting rooms and health care facilities. Social engineers in our government view this as being a large part of our health care delivery in the future. They have convinced many doctors that this as a good thing, effusively praising this new iteration of the doctor-patient experience as necessary and laudable.
But common sense has to tell you that this trend is not in anyone's best interest.
There is a reason doctors are taught how to perform a physical examination. The best physicians among us listen to the patient tell them what is wrong, ask the right questions to guide them to a diagnosis, confirm the diagnosis on physical exam, and know what to prescribe based on the most effective treatment. Telemedicine has limitations, often removing the confirmatory part of this equation.
The most obvious problem with telemedicine is that not every symptom is from the same disease process. Some complaints are notoriously vague and have an astonishingly broad number of possible etiologies. A physical exam is an absolute necessity in these patients. (Truth be told, even when a patient has already visited a health care professional, the resulting diagnosis can be incorrect, the physical signs of the problem missed, and the treatment ineffective. Medicine is not always easy.)
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
“Telemedicine” has been around since the early 2000s, but it’s only really taken off recently.
I don’t have a problem seeing my doctor virtually for annual check ups, but for chronic problems or issues requiring hands-on diagnostics, this doesn’t work.
Also, how are they going to weigh me? I suppose they’ll just have to trust that the scale in my bathroom wasn’t adjusted down 10 lbs.?
They’re still doing office visits for when they’re. But honestly most doctor visits have never needed to be visits. So much stuff is by wrote already they really don’t even need telemeds: you have a history of breathing problems and can’t shake this cold? Prednisone. Back acting up? Anti-inflamatories, probably with steroids. Most of this stuff could be handled in the phone call to make the appointment.
I had a cold with a little temperature. Called my doc, he cannot see me in person if I have a temp. Called the hospital, their “tent” wasn’t sent up so they couldn’t look at my case. My doctor does the Medicare wellness interview by phone. He asks me to remember 7 items, then later asks me to remember as many as I can. I read the list I made when he gave them to me. Am I feeling good, what is my blood pressure, what is my heart rate? Do I have any rugs on the floor that are loose? This isn’t “medicine” is is a cruel joke supported by the fake scamdemic. Socialized medicine is bad enough, telemedicine is totally worthless. My Apple Watch is a better physician than telemedicine. It gives me BP, ECG, O2 and reminders to wash my hands when I return home, fitness goals, etc. Two “non-visits” to the doctor or hospital and it pays for itself.
Can’t wait to get talked through my prostate exam.
During the annual check up, much of the time I am in the room with the internist she is feeling, looking at, thumping, listening to various body parts.
Moving that to telemedicine would be a huge downgrade.
I think for regular visits telemedicine is great. Then they can refer you to specialists. The only thing is IS,they should cut the price because they are making the same amount with less overhead.
Are you an elderly person?
I’m saying it should be an option. I’m still young enough that I just do the blood tests, talking to the doctor for 10 minutes about the results and anything going on in my life, and I move on. Telemedicine would save me an hour commute.
There are diagnostics to detect possible health concerns that can only be done in person. Telemedicine can’t replace those.
I did finally after 3 days get a call from a nurse at the VA clinic asking if it was better and if not to buy some saline nasal spray to try to get the sinuses to not be bloody/flourescant green. Luckily I had some left over prednisone I was able to cut in half and take long enough to get the burning to stop when I coughed and knock down the inflamed sinuses.
I really would have appreciated a listen to lungs as bronchitis has a nasty habit with me turning into pleurosy so I got off lucky this time. At over 70 years old and lung damage from shrapnel I hate to play around with respiratory issues, I wish the medical staff at the VA was same way.
Can’t wait to get talked through my prostate exam.
There will be a digital device sold at Walgreens that can Bluetooth to your phone app. Automatically email results to your virtual doctor.
I don’t see too much wrong with it as long as blood work is done. Blood can explain a lot. If their are some issues then do a follow up in person. Hardly anybody under 65 needs to be physically seen by a doctor every year.
Examples:
1. A dermatologist saw my skin cancer was clearly a basal-cell carcinoma. She told me she was carving off a sample to confirm, so because I found it so early, she had to shave off 97% (her words after the fact) to test. It came back positive, which she then scheduled me burn off the tiny last part. Neither the test nor the burning was needed when visually it was obviously basal-cell. A simple cream applied for a month is the normal choice for women, but she literally told me guys like the scars.
I went in for the electro-burning and told her I found out about this prescription cream and asked her why I couldn't use that. She and her two nurse assistants looked blankly at me and said that was a harmless choice that works fine for most people with basal cell.
She could have prescribed the anti-cancer cream for me without even getting my skin deeply sliced. What an idiot she was.
2. I had clear signs of a bad strain of influenza, with a fever that started at 99 when I first felt bad enough to test, but then four hours later had already gotten to 103. I went to a quick care doctor who said the only way she'd prescribe Tamiflu for my many symptoms was with a flu nasal swab test for another $160. She took it, and it came back positive for Type A flu. She told me she “learned something” that day—needlessly at my additional cost. She could have just prescribed the Tamiflu. What still annoys me to this day is that I asked her if she would reimburse me if it was positive and she said my insurance was paying for it. It didn't, because I hadn't met my deductible. She was another idiot.
There are obvious symptoms that doctors used to understand and treat, but now, due to laziness, require costly, needless testing. Telemedicine has saved my wife and I from ever getting another needless flu swab and the visits are $40.
You’re worried about saving an hour or two once a year, vs. your health?
Telemedicine if you get the sniffles and want some Tamiflu, but for an annual physical, a little time is OK.
Don’t ignore legal liability and too many lawyers as a reason for costly needless testing.
I’m a big fan of powered saline nasal irrigation for nasty sinuses. Well worth the ~$100.
Mine is a different brand, but something like this:
https://smile.amazon.com/SinuPulse-Elite-Advanced-Irrigation-System/dp/B001CWT4JI
Yet another idiotic article from the worst named magazine ever. There is nothing resembling “American” or “thought” in this bit of technophobic blather.
Most doctors suck. Telemedicine permits them to suck more profitably, as per their corporate bosses’ edicts.
My mother had a knee replaced recently. The doctor was demanding that she log into a Zoom call rather than the telephone or - hence the topic - an in-person visit.
He’s lucky she didn’t have complications...but she’s having issues for which I’m sure he’s totally oblivious due to the fact that he hasn’t seen her since the surgery.
“My Apple Watch is a better physician than telemedicine.”
Nailed it, except that I’d say your watch is better than most doctors. In my books I refer to the medical establishment as “M&M”, a derision richly deserved.
What do you call someone who graduated medical school with a C average?
Doctor
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