Telemedicine in rural areas

• Read the initial and secondary comments posted by your classmates and reflect upon them.
• Directly respond to at least one classmate in a way that extends meaningful discussions, adds new information, and/or offers alternative perspectives.
• Thank you for getting us started. You provided good information surrounding ancillary services and noted some struggles related to receiving services in rural areas. One development that has been incepted to close the gap in care is telemedicine. According to Durupt et al., (2016), “Telemedicine is a form of remote medical practice using information and communication technologies.” After interviewing several doctors telemedicine was found to be advantageous for the patient by providing faster access, eliminates the need for travel, and closes the gap in access for patients in need to see doctors where there is a shortage  (Durupt et al., (2016). While telemedicine has its benefits, physicians expressed concerns of losing the face-to-face contact or strained doctor-patient relationship, how will they be paid, and compromising the stages of consultation procedures i.e. visualizing the patients behavior and having a direct view, voicing that it will reduce the quality of diagnosis (Durupt et al., 2016). Have you used telemedicine? If so, what was your experience or your thoughts?

Dr. Sewell

• Durupt, M., Bouchy, O., Christophe, S., Kivits, J., & Boivin, J. (2016). Telemedicine in rural areas: General practitioners’ representations and experiences. Santé Publique (Vandoeuvre-Lès-Nancy, France), 28(4), 487-497.