Have you ever been in a busy medical waiting room and cringed every time a sick patient coughs or sneezes? Do you find it impossible to get time off to see a doctor at the Urgent Care due to your work schedule or short lunch breaks? Maybe you’re elderly and leaving the house is difficult.
No matter what makes it hard to get to a doctor when you’re not feeling 100%, telemedicine is becoming a great way to get the care you need without leaving your home or office. It’s also one that can lower medical bills, which prevents annual health insurance premium increases.
A Brief History of Telemedicine
Telemedicine has been around longer than you might imagine. As far back as the 1870s, doctors used phone calls to keep people from coming into a medical office unnecessarily. By the 1920s, doctors could communicate with NASA astronauts to offer long-distance health monitoring.
Telemedicine’s use increased during COVID to keep ill patients from coming to the hospital, urgent care, or doctors’ offices and spreading the virus. Doctors could assess the severity over video or the phone and decide if the patient needed to be seen. The success solidified the use of telemedicine in medical offices, including urgent care.
Getting Sick Doesn’t Have to Lead to Long Waits
In California, there are limits on how long you have to wait to see a doctor. If you need immediate care when prior authorization isn’t needed by insurance, a doctor has to see you within 48 hours. If prior authorization is required, doctors have 96 hours. That increases to 10 business days for non-urgent, mental health, or substance use care. It’s a long wait.
How many times have you made a doctor’s appointment for your lunch break, only to see that hour pass without being called? You have no choice but to leave without seeing a doctor. While a medical office warns that if you don’t show up on time, you get charged, they never reimburse patients for delays.
If you’re sick or injured, you must wait. Meanwhile, you could contract COVID, the flu, a bad chest cold, etc., from the other people in the waiting room. Waiting is never ideal.
That’s where urgent care comes in. It’s a fast solution for seeing a doctor without making an appointment and waiting. Urgent care doctors handle many health issues, injuries, or sports, work, or yearly check-ups. They also offer vaccinations and lab tests. It saves time.
With an urgent care telemedicine visit, you get answers to questions and learn what you should do next if you’re not feeling great. You never have to leave your home or office, which makes it a convenient way to get care. Telemedicine calls must be returned within 30 minutes. It’s a huge difference.
Explore the Many Benefits of Virtual Office Visits
An urgent care model is also known as omnichannel care. That means it is meant to provide you with the support you need from any of the doctors you see in an affordable, collaborative, easy-to-follow manner. That’s just one benefit.
- Avoid driving in busy traffic or arranging a ride
- Don’t try to match appointments to public transportation schedules
- Get care on your schedule.
- Keep sick children at home where they’re comfortable.
- Limit the spread of your illness.
- Virtual care is usually less expensive than an office or ER visit.
- It’s faster.
- Your doctor arranges specialist care, if needed.
What Happens During a Telemedicine Appointment?
Here’s what you can expect.
Use your phone, tablet, or computer to pre-register for a telehealth call or video chat. Before the telemedicine appointment, test your microphone and camera. Set up in a well-lit area that’s away from others. You want a quiet environment free of distractions and sudden noises.
Video chat is ideal as it allows the doctor and nurse to look at your skin, eyes, and other things that need to be addressed.
For example, you believe you have the flu. A doctor may confirm that by listening to your cough, seeing your flushed appearance, and noticing your watery eyes. If you have a skin rash that concerns you, you can hold your rash up to the camera for the doctor to see.
When a doctor is ready to see you, you’ll be sent a link or get a phone call that connects you to the nurse or doctor. Answer questions, take notes if you won’t remember what the doctor said, and don’t be scared to bring up things that seem embarrassing. It’s better to be thorough to ensure you get the correct medical diagnosis and advice.
You’ll be asked what medications and supplements you take. Include them all, even if it’s a multivitamin or herbal remedy. It’s important for the doctor to have a full list to avoid any reactions.
If the doctor feels you should come to the urgent care office for additional tests, you’ll have that insight. If a prescription is needed, it’s sent to your preferred pharmacist.
The same doctors and nurses you see in an urgent care practice handle telemedicine appointments. You’re not talking to a go-between. You only work with licensed medical professionals who follow all appropriate laws, including HIPAA.
When Should You Go to Urgent Care vs. When to Arrange Telemedicine
Virtual urgent care appointments are not meant for emergencies like deep lacerations, bone fractures, or head injuries. Go to urgent care or an ER, depending on the severity. Telemedicine is best for:
- Allergies
- Cold, COVID, flu, or other viruses
- Ear aches
- Eye infections (pink eye)
- Management of chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure
- Minor sprains
- Sinus infections
- Skin rashes
- Sunburn
- UTIs
With telemedicine, an urgent care doctor only sees you. If you have equipment at home to take your blood pressure, pulse, breathing rate, temperature, blood sugar levels, and oxygen saturation levels, it provides additional information that’s helpful to the medical team.
There are times you should go to an urgent care practice or ER. Suspected stroke or heart attack is something you should call 911 for and go right to the ER. The same is true of compound bone fractures.
If you have a condition or injury that will require blood tests or lab cultures, it’s best to go to urgent care. Cuts needing stitches or debriding, such as a dog bite, are also reasons to go right to urgent care.
If you do make a telehealth appointment and the doctor feels you need to go in, you’ll have help getting set up for your walk-in appointment.
After taking all of your prescription medications, a telemedicine visit is enough to check in and make sure you’re feeling better. If you have stitches, telemedicine is also appropriate to ensure the cut is healing properly.
Telemedicine Is Convenient and Eliminates Trips to the Doctor
Telemedicine is a convenient option, especially if it’s hard to leave your workplace to get to an appointment in the middle of the day. It’s a great way to get an anxious child to “see” a doctor without having to get that child dressed, in the car, and into the doctor’s office.
Hybrid care involving telemedicine and doctor consultations will continue to grow in popularity. With remote blood pressure, blood sugar, and even smart watches that can track heart, oxygen, and sleep stats, telemedicine is essential.
If you have a health issue that doesn’t seem urgent enough to go to the doctor, schedule a telemedicine appointment with the doctors at Premium Urgent Care. You’ll be asked:
- Your name
- Date of birth
- Phone number
- Insurance information
- Home address
- Pharmacy
- Device being used for the appointment
- Reason for your call
- Height, weight, pulse, temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate, if possible
- Current medications
Submit that information to Premium Urgent Care and get on the list for the next available doctor. It’s that easy.