Telemedicine: What is it?

During COVID-19 times, everyone, confined at home, was not able to attend their medical professional at all. For people who suffer from afflictions such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, such lack of care is extremely dangerous. Telemedicine is a way for doctors to treat patients via electronic communications. Doctors use phone and video calls to keep in touch with the patients and are able to send prescription requests electronically.

Some advantages of telemedicine are the improved accessibility to medical attention, reduced health care cost, and safety during the pandemic. On the flipside, telemedicine has a few disadvantages such as the limited relationship between doctors and patients and the quality of health care. Also, some patients cannot use telemedicine because of their inability to use or have an electronic device. Around 75% of hospitals in the U.S. use telemedicine and are flourishing under it.