This article was written exclusively for The European Sting by Ms Adeleke Oluwaseun Dorcas, a medical student at Sumy State University, Ukraine. It is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), a cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this article belong strictly to the author and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s point of view on the subject, nor that of The European Sting.
Many academics believe that telemedicine could be the future of medicine. As we move into a more virtual world, will telemedicine pose a greater threat to patient-doctor interaction or will it solve the bottlenecks currently affecting the patient-doctor experience?
Given recent advances in the medical field, it is safe to say that telemedicine has always been an inescapable reality. Time is one of the major problems that telemedicine tends to solve by its very existence.
What exactly is time in the context of medicine? Time allows access to health care without the rigors of long waits caused by stretching insufficient medical staff, it also limits personnel and logistical issues such as: long distance, high cost transport and also the unavailability of certain medical specialists nearby. Telemedicine and e-health help relieve pressure on the healthcare system, resulting in a better and more efficient work environment.
In addition, telemedicine has a significant economic impact in that it devalues physical consultation, allowing other forms of economic, social and recreational activities to be carried out alongside medical consultation without one replacing the other. other, allowing the pursuit of economic activities.
Despite its advantages, e-health can jeopardize the patient-doctor relationship. The patient’s ability to express themselves is essential in the preliminary diagnosis. Patients unable to adequately express their distress due to various factors such as speech impairment, language barrier, age (both old and young patients), etc., will have a negative impact on the quality of diagnosis . Moreover, e-health would be ineffective for patients who are critically ill, in an emergency situation, unconscious or whose consciousness is altered; such patients should be admitted to hospital.
Physical examination is also a key diagnostic method in medicine. E-health, by definition, eliminates the physical examination, which diminishes the quality of diagnosis. Medicine is a mixture of not only the knowledge of a disease, but also the various methods used to detect its presence.
In conclusion, the discussion should not be about the opportunities and obstacles of telemedicine as stated earlier in this article. Telemedicine is an important component of modern medicine, so creating an enabling environment where its services can be easily accessed is important to solving some of the major bottlenecks affecting the healthcare system.
About the Author
Adeleke Oluwaseun Dorcas is a medical student at Sumy State University. She is a 5and first-year student. She is taking steps to create a positive impact wherever life takes her using the knowledge she has gained from her days in her home country of Nigeria until now studying in Ukraine. She is a member of many non-profit organizations including EMSA (European Medical Students Association) and one of her many endeavors is to become an agent of positive change. She is interested in general surgery and gastroenterology.