Tele doctor

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tele doctor (also called "Tele-doctor") is a doctor who provides its medical services using modern communication media and available through this with the patient in contact (see also telemedicine ). Just like his medical colleague in the hospital or in the private practice, the tele-doctor deals with questions relating to prevention ( prophylaxis ), diagnosis and therapy . In general, the patient is given information on diseases, treatment methods, the effects of drugs, treatment and cost plans or alternative therapies.

The tele-doctor is not to be confused with the common "television tele-doctor", ie a doctor acting as a television journalist.

Emergence

The emergence of telemedicine communication is a phenomenon of the 21st century and is closely related to the new technologies that developed in the 1990s. The social desire for constant availability, quick written communication and ubiquitous access to knowledge created the prerequisites for the all-encompassing use of the Internet, e-mail, SMS and MMS. The modern knowledge society demands the informed patient and the patient is faced with a flood of multimedia information on health topics. German health insurances advocate actively accompanying one's own illness. The modern patient today has more information about his illness or a second opinion than 20 years ago, without having to accept spatial and temporal restrictions. For a few years now, telemedicine knowledge data and communication can be quickly exchanged around the clock by phone or PC in almost all parts of the world, without having to rely on a stationary network. There is such. B. the possibility to electronically exchange medical data such as findings and X-rays or cost plans or to receive medical advice over the phone. More and more health insurances are offering their policyholders the service of such a medical hotline. A pioneer in Germany was a working group of 27 company health insurance funds under the leadership of the North Regional Association of Company Health Insurance Funds (Hamburg) in cooperation with the Hamburg Medical Association and the medical service provider MD Medicus from Ludwigshafen, which established the "Infomed Health Guide" on February 1, 1998. This service, where doctors and medical specialists are available around the clock for the insured, was initially limited to Hamburg and was then opened nationwide from August 1998 - due to the positive response.

qualification

In addition to the medical profession, telemedicine work requires extensive practical knowledge of modern communication media. Qualified information for a patient requires many years of outpatient or inpatient experience as well as knowledge of the latest state of medicine - often supported by very complex knowledge databases.

The most important challenges for the tele doctor are:

  • the correct assignment of the symptoms presented by the patient, usually subjectively and as a layperson.
  • The very broad, up-to-date medical knowledge without showing a lack of depth of knowledge
  • The layman understandable yet comprehensive explanation for the patient

Inexperienced doctors fail because of these demands.

The medical journalist Martin U. Müller spoke out in April 2020 in favor of introducing a kind of additional designation for doctors who treat patients telemedically. It requires special skills to remotely diagnose certain diseases.

criticism

There are voices expressing concerns about the quality of telemedical care and the lack of the “human component” is seen as a disadvantage in this exclusively indirect contact between doctor and patient. According to the prevailing opinion, the consultation of the tele-doctor cannot replace the visit to the doctor's office or clinic, but only complement it.

Practitioners in the field of medical telephone advice, on the other hand, emphasize that precisely because of the distance generated by the telephone, the patient often speaks more freely and openly about his illness or symptoms and so the doctor receives a good picture of the patient over the phone .

Future prospects

Against the background of rising health care costs, the importance of the tele-doctor will increase. Due to the technical development in data transmission, the use of this type of doctor consultation will certainly increase. In Germany, there was an increasing debate about the increased use of telemedicine in the context of the crisis surrounding the novel coronavirus. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians reported that in March 2020 so many doctors were offering video consultations that the data volume was barely sufficient in many places.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christina Pohl, Olaf Heuser, DER SPIEGEL: Podcast: Visiting a doctor without the risk of infection - DER SPIEGEL - Health. Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Martin U. Müller , Marcel Rosenbach , Hilmar Schmundt, Cornelia Schmergal, DER SPIEGEL: Click the Doc - DER SPIEGEL - Science. Retrieved April 10, 2020 .