Remote diagnostic services: Boon or bane?
As people get busier and medical care gets more complex, diagnostic services are forced to adapt to a changing culture. Some see this as a necessity in a modern society built around large urban areas that can create huge challenges for an already overburdened medical system. The question is whether medical care should still be an in-person experience or whether some amount of the process can be done on a remote basis. With this challenge in mind, here are a few thoughts on whether remote diagnostic services will help or hurt the medical field and the quality of patient care.
Limited descriptors
One of the major challenges with remote diagnostic services is that nurses or doctors that staff these services may have a limited ability to diagnose conditions. In other words, they are sometimes reduced to a set of questions that must be answered accurately by the patient themselves. A trained medical person may be able to get at the root of the problem through a series of inquires, but it is up to the patient to provide helpful information. In other words, the patient cannot be physically examined, which in some cases is much more helpful than the testimony of the individual. If the patient cannot describe their condition well or is unable to phrase things properly, the medical person may be limited in their diagnosis.
History, trust and connection
Another challenge with remote diagnostic services is that the medical person may not have the full history of the individual, which can often give clues about current conditions. If the patient needs to go through a complex history, it may waste precious time that could have been saved if the person went to an existing doctor. In addition, some patients may be hesitant to share information with a person over the phone or email if there is not an existing relationship of trust. Granted, medicine is shifting to the point where patients in some care systems will not necessarily have the same doctor every time. Therefore, the future of medical care may have to adjust to a lesser relationship between patients and a particular doctor.
Better than avoiding care
Of course, remote care is arguably better than no care at all. Many individuals have experienced problems in life because they did not take the time to seek medical care for a nagging problem. This may have been because of the hassle of doctor’s appointments or because they didn’t think their problem was a big deal. Remote diagnostic services will not necessarily inspire people to seek care, but it will be a more convenient option. In addition, remote diagnostics provide people with better options than rushing to a doctor’s office any time there is a hint of a problem. The goal is not to dissuade people from visiting doctors, but it can help avoid visits that might not have been necessary if the person would have been able to ask a few questions first.
One step in the process
Ultimately, remote diagnostic services are not a universal solution to medical care. Because of the complexities of the human body, people still need to interact personally with medical personnel so that those individuals can do examinations and perform various tests. However, remote diagnostic services may be a way to triage large populations that create large amounts of medical issues. Medicine must continue to evolve in order to address needs of a changing population, and remote diagnostic services may be one part of the overall solution.
