Published Sep 16, 2019
jwalla20
62 Posts
I am trying to get some input on the telemedicine field. I have been practicing for 5 years in primary care and looking at finding a prn position. I wanted more information on the legal issues.
If you are working in telemedicine - what do you like/dislike about it? typical shift?
Any advice, tips will be appreciated.
ToFNPandBeyond
203 Posts
Bump
missdeevah, NP
318 Posts
TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP
1,290 Posts
The urgent-care clinic I work for shifted to providing Telehealth appointments as soon as Lockdown started. At the height of it, half to two-thirds of my encounters per shift were via telehealth, and before testing was widely available I made plenty of empiric diagnoses of COVID by symptoms alone. Now the percentage of telehealth varies widely, but for many issues, it still works just fine (e.g. ear pain with tragal tenderness? have some ofloxacin for your otitis media). For UTIs I have a standard spiel - do you want me to treat blindly, or do you want to come in to drop off a urine sample for culture?
That said, history becomes a lot more important via telehealth (although, to paraphrase at least one of my assessment textbooks, a skilled clinician will have a good idea what they'll find on physical exam if they've done their history properly, and/or will be looking for a specific finding to make their diagnostic choice). I can have patients mush on their sinuses and attempt to find their lymph nodes, but that's about it for physical exam. Most patients webcams/connections leave much to be desired, and rashes just don't show up the way I'd want.
Thanks for the reply. I am now doing telehealth PRN. It's not bad at all ?
18 hours ago, TheSquire said:The urgent-care clinic I work for shifted to providing Telehealth appointments as soon as Lockdown started. At the height of it, half to two-thirds of my encounters per shift were via telehealth, and before testing was widely available I made plenty of empiric diagnoses of COVID by symptoms alone. Now the percentage of telehealth varies widely, but for many issues, it still works just fine (e.g. ear pain with tragal tenderness? have some ofloxacin for your otitis media). For UTIs I have a standard spiel - do you want me to treat blindly, or do you want to come in to drop off a urine sample for culture?That said, history becomes a lot more important via telehealth (although, to paraphrase at least one of my assessment textbooks, a skilled clinician will have a good idea what they'll find on physical exam if they've done their history properly, and/or will be looking for a specific finding to make their diagnostic choice). I can have patients mush on their sinuses and attempt to find their lymph nodes, but that's about it for physical exam. Most patients webcams/connections leave much to be desired, and rashes just don't show up the way I'd want.
Thanks for you input!