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Continued from previous page Your PCP/NP can “see” you online through the use of
Telemedicine Is Here! the smartphone using Facetime, or video chat using
Telehealth is not a service. It is a way to improve Facebook or other video conferencing app.
patient care and physician education. Telehealth It’s helpful for a variety of other health issues
expands beyond telemedicine to cover non-clinical including psychotherapy and other common health
events like appointment scheduling, continuing issues that can be quickly and appropriately
medical education, and physician training. addressed via telemedicine include:

How does telemedicine work? • Cold and flu
Telemedicine isn’t appropriate for emergency • Insect bites
situations like heart attack or stroke, cuts or • Sore throat
lacerations, or broken bones that require x-rays, • Diarrhea
splints, or casts. Anything that requires immediate,
hands-on care should be handled in person. Here is the list a short list of applications which
However, telemedicine is very useful for would help you make video chat between Android
straight-forward issues and follow-up consultations. and iPhone easy! Be to check if these are free apps to
download.
Right now, many Primary Care Physicians, (PCPs)
and Nurse Practitioners, (NPs) are utilizing 1. Skype
telemedicine for their patients that may older patients 2. Google Hangouts
with compromised immune systems, or have health 3. Tango
ongoing issues that require monitoring, but during 4. Facebook Messenger
the stay-home orders, cannot get to their regular 5. Yahoo Messenger
appointments.

Inspirations Magazine | Spring Page 10