TelemedProviders

• Live Teleconsultations

Live teleconsultations involve real-time interaction between a remote healthcare provider and a patient and his/her medical team, usually through video-conferencing.  This form of consultation allows the consulting physician to ask the patient questions directly (through an interpreter if needed) as well as discuss with the medical team regarding the case.  Usually, at least one physician needs to be present with the patient at the time of consultation since some aspects of the clinical examination can only be performed by a trained physician.  In this case, the consulting physician asks the physician present with the patient to perform the specific task and report his findings to the consulting physician.  This type of consultation allows the consulting physician to discuss the results of imaging and laboratory studies with the patient and his medical team and provide a recommendation regarding the best course of action.

We use live video-conferencing teleconsultations in specialties such as surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, oncology, neurosurgery, etc. where direct doctor-patient interaction is crucial for the success of the consultation.

• Medical Data Teleconsultations

The other form of Tele-Consultation is the data consultation. In this form, information regarding the patient's medical condition is obtained and recorded and then forwarded to a consulting physician to give his/her opinion. In some specialties, the store-and-forward form is the most practical and in most of these specialties, live consultations do not confer any advantage over data teleconsultations.

Examples of these specialties include teleradiology and telepathology. These specialties rely mainly on imaging technology and lab results to reach a clinical decision in addition to the clinical history. The relevant clinical history is best supplied by the patient's local medical team and there is often no added value in the radiologist or pathologist obtaining this history themselves. Thus, teleconsultations in these specialties are often done using the store-and-forward technique.  It is worth noting that this technique is not necessarily more time-consuming and does not result in delays in getting the consultation.

For example, radiologists are able to provide an interpretation for an imaging study from a remote location within minutes of the study being obtained. This technique only implies that no live interaction occurs between the patient and the consulting physician. Nevertheless, if the patient's medical team has any questions regarding the consulting physician's recommendations, they can easily engage in live consultation through the telephone or video-conferencing to get clear answers to their questions.

We use medical data teleconsultatation techniques in specialties such as radiology and pathology.  However, even in these specialties, we provide referring physicians with full access to the consulting physicians for live consultation as needed.