Government funds help schools

During the pandemic the Federal government created more grants and set aside more money for telehealth programs. For example, in February of 2022 the University of Mississippi Medical Center received a $17.6 million grant from the State Department of Education to provide more of the state’s students access to Telehealth.

This initial money came from the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Then in March of 2022 the Rescue Plan opened $122 billion of funds for school districts to use in both tech-based and non-tech ways.  

Telehealth helps in rural areas

Studies conducted before the pandemic showed that children in rural areas already lacked healthcare opportunities compared to their urban peers. According to this article, secondary-school age kids in small rural areas were more often overweight  (41.6%) when compared with urban kids (29.7%). Before the pandemic, children in rural areas had less access to preventative care (71.4%) than urban kids (75.8%). Also, rural kids had less access to preventative dental care (74.0%) compared to urban children (80.2%).

On the other hand, children in rural areas more often had 60 minutes of daily physical activity (25.8%), the recommended amount for health, compared to urban children (18.9%).

The Mississippi grant will give K-12 kids more access to healthcare during school hours through a telehealth delivery system, including urgent care and behavioral health care. The grant will also increase accessibility to healthcare for students in rural areas.

What can you do?

Providers can work with school administrators to create community groups tasked with starting healthcare programs in rural areas. Your efforts can help create a great public-private partnership by working with local philanthropic groups that are interested in providing healthcare to kids in rural areas, especially mental health care. You can use this link to find a foundation in your area.

The post New Opportunities for Telehealth Providers to Help Rural Schools appeared first on Doxy.me.

Providers who have embraced telemedicine recognize that how they see patients has fundamentally changed. Pediatricians are also adjusting to this technique. How can pediatricians and other providers who work with children take advantage of telehealth to help the kids they see?

What are some limitations?

Pediatricians have found that telehealth solutions face the same limitations as regular care, with these added worries:

• Inherent limitations of the technology, including network speed and availability
• Whether patients and parents feel comfortable using virtual care
• Your office’s ability to set up new workflows around telehealth
• Bandwidth is insufficient in many areas for a good telehealth experience

Also, while digital instruments are making headway in many situations, it’s still rare to find patients with digital stethoscopes or otoscopes in their home. Of course, if you’re seeing a patient frequently for conditions that require sensitive instruments, you probably have made arrangements to make their telehealth care more effective.

Surprisingly, cost is not a serious limitation. Some solutions can work on any device, such as desktop PCs and mobile devices. Those are almost certainly part of your healthcare arsenal already. And doxy.me is famously free to use for any provider and super easy to implement.

What are some benefits?

As telehealth becomes easier to find, some benefits have become obvious. Here are some examples:

• Increased care opportunities for rural patients
• Convenience of routine exams for colds and viruses or medicine management
• Popular solution for mental health treatment
• Minimizes contagion transmission
• Helpful for specific conditions such as dermatology and cardiology

In 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advised that a pediatrician’s office was the best place for a child’s medical care. However, the pandemic made it possible to receive excellent care through the internet. 

Because of the pandemic, the growth and evolution of telehealth were accelerated. Government regulations and policies that once limited the effectiveness of telemedicine were pushed aside as the nation dealt with the emergency. However, some of those exceptions are expiring. 

We’ll see how insurance companies work with providers and telehealth. In the meantime, providers, including pediatricians, will continue to find new ways to employ telehealth for the good of the patients they care for.

If you’re reading this and you haven’t investigated telehealth for your pediatric practice, sign up for doxy.me today. It’s free, and it will help you move into the future of healthcare.

The post How Does Telehealth Mix With Pediatrics? appeared first on Doxy.me.

How telehealth can improve engagement 

Healthcare providers rely on patient engagement to make decisions about treatment and to determine how well treatment is going. Telehealth can help with that engagement. Here are some immediate benefits of using telehealth in your office.

Attendance

Telehealth calls lower the barrier to a client showing up for a visit. They no longer have to drive or even get out of bed to talk to their therapist. Even clients for whom in-person therapy would be totally inaccessible—like people who live in rural areas—can join a teletherapy call. 

Client disclosure

Some therapists believe that clients won’t “open up” or self-disclose over telehealth. In fact, most pre-pandemic literature suggests the opposite is true. Being on a video call may actually be comforting to some clients, making it easier for them to disclose. One example was given to us by Dr. Darius Campinha-Bacote on the Telehealth Heroes Podcast:

“There was a woman who stated, ‘I saw that your name was Darius and knew that was a male. I’d been sexually assaulted by a man. Now that it’s telehealth, I’m able to move the camera, I’m able to not look.’ I don’t know if I can say it more importantly: there’s no way this woman would have had an appointment with me if not for telehealth.” 

Family involvement

Marriage and family therapists love involving other family members in therapy sessions, but it’s often difficult to get their participation because it takes extra time and effort. However, if all they need to do is join a call for 20 minutes or so, or even join the whole session for 50 minutes, that’s still much easier than driving a 30-minute or more round trip on top of the 50 minutes session.

A video call may actually be comforting to some clients

How you can help your patient connect

The basics of any patient interaction are the same whether in your office or virtually: if the professional is anxious, the patient will be. You should appear at ease, natural, and relaxed. To establish the patient’s level of ease, maybe ask questions like:

• Have you used telehealth before?
• Have you used teleconferencing tools before?
• What are your experiences with telehealth?
• What’s this experience like for you, can I make this more comfortable?

This article puts it like this: “More than ever, you need to use your communication skills to comfort your patients, relate to their feelings, and try to assure them things will be okay. Don’t offer reassurance as an afterthought, and use plenty of eye contact and genuine feeling.”

Some ways to get started

Here are some easy-to-implement suggestions to improve the patient’s experience:

• Manage the sounds in your office. Make sure that your notifications are silenced before the call. That beep or chime might distract from an important conversation. Suggest to your client to do the same.
• Adjust your camera. You want your camera to show you from the waist up if possible. Angle your camera so you’re straight on—you don’t want to “look down” at your patient. Simulating eye contact is essential to making the patient comfortable. 
• Teach your client. Help your client feel comfortable with telehealth by teaching them how to use the platform. Suggest things like changing their camera angle or being aware of their background. If they are on a cell phone, you could suggest they prop the phone against something so they don’t have to hold it during the call. 
• Tell your patient what you’re doing. For example, you may have to look away from your camera to make notes, especially if your EHR is on another screen. Make this clear to your patient: “As we’re talking, I may want to capture something so we can come back to it. If you see me looking to the side, it’s me taking notes. Does that bother you?”

Dr. Bryan Zitzman, a licensed marriage and family therapist (and lead product manager at Doxy.me Inc.) says that patients typically appreciate this type of attention. “If it’s someone who wants most or all of their appointments to be through telehealth, it’s worth the investment to make the experience better,” he says, “But be succinct with your advice—your focus is the patient, not the technology.”

We are all getting better at this

As many of us are aware, telehealth in its many forms is the future of the healthcare industry. Patients and therapists both are finding it easier to use, and it has become a very common solution. The better you as a provider can use the technology, the better your patient’s experience will be, and the better your patient engagement will be. Polish your skills! Your patients will be grateful.

The post Does Telehealth Actually Improve Patient Engagement? appeared first on Doxy.me.

This is especially true considering the penalties associated with a data breach. Here are some facts about what happens when an individual or a covered entity ignores regulations or willfully breaks HIPAA laws. (This article focuses on electronic breaches, but throwing away the wrong information could be a breach as well. Also note that some telehealth platforms are not HIPAA compliant. Doxy.me always is because we don’t store patient data.) 

Are you a covered entity?

HIPAA infractions can’t happen to just anyone—if a provider tells a neighbor about her bunions, it’s not a violation. However, if a provider emails a neighbor about a patient’s bunions, it might be a violation. Remember, HIPAA regulations apply to “covered entities,” which includes any provider who transmits any information in an electronic form regarding healthcare relationships. It also includes insurance companies and the companies who manage their data.

So let’s say you woke up this morning and decided to ignore HIPAA regulations, and you got caught. Several things can now happen:

• Your workplace does its own investigation and makes internal decisions about how to proceed
• After an investigation, you get fired from your clinic job
• Professional governing bodies discipline you and you lose your license(s)
• You receive fines concomitant to your civil infractions
• Actual criminal charges are filed, and then it’s fines and jail time

How much do HIPAA violations cost?

Penalties for HIPAA infractions depend on the level of negligence. According to this article, “…they can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation (or per record), with a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per year for violations of an identical provision.”

The lowest fines start with a data breach you didn’t know about because you didn’t know you were vulnerable. Then things get more expensive according to the level of neglect and the size of the breach. Negligence in this case means you knew, or should have known, that you were vulnerable. 

Maybe you knew that a specific employee was inappropriately interested in the medical records of strangers and you did nothing to mitigate the problem. Maybe you knew that your IT partners were not patching their computers, creating a security risk. The more you knew, or in other words the more negligent your behavior, the steeper the fine. 

Because of Freedom of Information Act provisions, all prosecuted instances of HIPAA violations are publicly accessible

Doing hard time

It’s important here to note we have been talking about civil penalties: negligence and mistakes in the course of daily work that don’t involve actual bad actors. Things get worse when sketchy people with bad intentions get involved. 

• Individuals who knowingly release private patient data can face up to $50,000 in fines and a year in prison. 
• If the criminals lie to people to get the information, or in other words they use social engineering or other deceit to obtain the information, penalties can increase to $100,000 fine and up to five years in prison. 
• If the breach occurs because the criminals want to sell identifiable health information for malice or personal advantage, fines can increase to $250,000 and ten years in prison.

Losing patient trust

This is all scary stuff, and it can happen through simple carelessness, so it should be on our minds. However, setting fines and prison aside we should talk about the immediate impact of breaching patient confidence. 

Negligence means you knew, or should have known, that your patient information was vulnerable

The old saying goes that a reputation takes a lifetime to create and “one bad day to destroy.” You have built your practice on the trust of your patients and the knowledge that they can rely on your expertise and good judgment. Even small violations of patient trust might destroy the relationship you have built with your patients. Worse, because of Freedom of Information Act provisions, instances of HIPAA violations are publicly accessible. Your data breach is available for everyone to review, including potential patients.

What can you do?

This discussion about HIPAA violations should reinforce the importance of vigilance regarding our patients’ private information. Simple awareness of the potential for harm is only the baseline for success. Designating a Privacy Officer who oversees HIPAA compliance is a good place to start even for many small organizations. Procedures and double checking go a long way towards protection. Here are some more suggestions for increasing your vigilance and protecting your patients.

The post The Consequences of Ignoring HIPAA Regulations appeared first on Doxy.me.

We’ve all sat in waiting rooms filling out intake forms. So many forms! It’s one of the ways you as a provider can best relate to your patients: everyone has to experience the tedium of filling out insurance forms, assessments, and legal releases. 

Or maybe you’ve been sent a link, and then you printed out the form and filled it out at your kitchen table. You hauled it into the appointment with you, and yes you saved time doing the forms at home, but the office staff still has to enter the data into an EHR. This is a very inefficient process to say the least, and your patients do it all the time!

How online eforms can help

In the last few years, however, many practices have started moving towards online forms. The next time you have an appointment with your provider you may receive a text or email with a link to a forms collection tool. This helps both sides of the process: the patient can easily fill out the form online, and the records arrive at the doctor ready to use instead of on paper that has to be entered by hand. Of course, scanning a paper form is possible, but after the office gets the text into a scanning system they still have to move the answers into their EHR.

Worst of all, patient-reported data matches EHR data in only 23.5 percent of records.

Here are some of the instant benefits of online forms:

• Cut processing costs
• Improve EHR accuracy
• Keep patient records private
• Enhance the patient experience 
• Focus your office on healthcare

One of the biggest benefits of collecting information is the ability to have insurance and legal forms filled out before the patient sees a provider. In many cases, especially in mental health practices, a provider cannot see a patient before they have this information. It’s essential that this part of the intake process be as easy as possible for the patient. 

Managing reports from patients

One common kind of information collection is when a patient self-reports on their condition. This may be a mental health check-in, or it may be a description of pain, but it helps a provider make decisions about the person in their care.

Many patient-reported outcome apps require the patient to use a complicated portal, often only available on a desktop computer since they were developed before everyone had a computer in their pocket. And worst of all, the elderly population, the people who may need to report their health status the most, are also the population least likely to be comfortable with an online experience.

Dokbot uses conversation to gather healthcare data directly from patients

A friendlier option is a chatbot, a computer interface that tries to put a human face on data collection by leading the user down a path of questions about their conditions. Chatbots often appear as troubleshooting tools on a variety of websites. Maybe you have encountered one when trying to buy something online. The chatbot asks you questions that hopefully hone in on the type of product that would best solve your problem.

Enter the chatbot

One example of a chatbot-type online forms collector is dokbot. Dokbot uses conversation to gather healthcare data directly from patients with no password and no download. The dokbot interface uses natural language processing to make the conversation feel as human as possible. The goal is to help the patient feel like they’re talking to a provider. 

Dokbot can be added to your doxy.me waiting room so patients can complete forms before their appointment. You can also use dokbot to email or text the patient directly, so they can complete the forms whenever they want. 

Dokbot is completely HIPAA compliant, and you can use it for both intake forms and assessment forms. Providers can view and download patient data in a few secure formats: patient assessment results can be sent to you through HIPAA-compliant email, sent to a dedicated database to attach to your EHR, or you can use the dokbot workshop to view secure results (and create and edit your bot).

Choose the future

How many times have you heard ”the future is here” regarding new technology? It’s become a buzzword and we usually let it roll off our minds. However, online forms and chatbots are clearly the future of information collection in healthcare offices. Some systems can be an expensive investment, but the return is immediate and profound. If the biggest inefficiency in your office is your check-in process, then online forms and a chatbot may be the solution you’ve hoped for.

The post Solve Your Practice’s Biggest Problem—Forms appeared first on Doxy.me.

Growth of Digital Therapeutics Industry

Digital therapeutics (DTx) is a fairly new medical discipline. Although some early efforts can be traced to the 1990s, the industry really took off after 2012 as it became commonplace for desktop computers and mobile devices to work together. DTx always involves apps or devices that help a patient achieve a goal or understand a condition. DTx can mean electronic sensors that gather data, wearable devices that can deliver medication, applications that prompt or remind about behaviors, some VR experiences, and some forms of artificial intelligence.

The Digital Therapeutics Association (DTA) says that DTx “delivers evidence-based therapeutic interventions that are driven by high quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease.” According to the journal Nature, “In 2002, a study showed that an intensive behavioral intervention targeting diet and exercise could significantly reduce people’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.” This study prompted the development of lifestyle-change programs with CDC approval. These early programs were face to face with providers, but companies like Omada began developing interventions in the digital space and DTx was born.

Cutting Edge of Medical Interaction

While the official definition of DTx requires tools that are approved and regulated, some DTx applications are created with open source software. This is often cutting edge stuff that doesn’t have FDA approval yet. The public’s need for hardware and software that solves medical problems currently outpaces the innovation and bureaucracy of the healthcare industry.

I have a friend who uses an app on her phone to control her continuous glucose monitor (CGM). People in the diabetes community created the app because there was nothing to connect the system of the CGM to the system of a glucose pump. To use her phone to connect the two devices, she has to use a software developers kit to compile the raw code whenever she needs to upgrade. Using these tools, she has controlled her diabetes to the point her A1C would be normal if it were mine or yours. 

Another application of DTx is offering patients cognitive behavioral therapy. For example, mental health providers can use adhere.ly to remind their patients to practice therapeutic exercises. Using the app, patients can actually practice mental wellness exercises right on their desktop or mobile device. Providers can also send encouraging text messages to their patients by creating personalized messages in the app that are sent on a predetermined schedule. Other DTx systems can help treat substance abuse, schizophrenia, or insomnia.

DTx products can address critical gaps in care for underserved populations, regardless of patient age, language, culture, income, disease state, or geography.

– DTA

Digital therapeutics can also help people who can’t visit a doctor’s office. Some telemedicine  products, including doxy.me, can use special high definition audio devices to allow providers to hear a patient’s heartbeat while the patient is at home. 

Virtual reality is another growing area for DTx technology. VR is being used as a therapeutic medium for treating PTSD, anxiety, phobias, OCD, and other conditions that require patient and provider interaction. There’s still a lot of room for growth with this intersection of technologies, but enthusiastic studies are happening all the time.

The Future of DTx

Digital therapeutics can work for patients anywhere they may be, in any language and in any country. Providers can use technology to reach their patients and collect important data to focus and improve their medical care. As broadband becomes more available in more parts of the world, the potential for DTx is startling. It’s always interesting to watch the world change before your eyes. Digital therapeutics is certainly a thing to watch. 

Learn More

For an introduction to digital therapeutics, read this journal article from 2020.

The post DTx- Can Policy Keep Pace With Patient Needs? appeared first on Doxy.me.

Transfer lets you move a patient between rooms. Select Transfer to from the Action Icon drop-down on the patient’s Start Call button, and select the destination room from the displayed list. It’s as easy as that!

Until now, patients have had to check in directly to the provider’s room, and wait in the provider’s Patient Queue. If the provider was delayed with other patients, other clinic staff may not be aware that the patient is in the waiting room. The busy provider has to watch for check-in notifications and to notify the patient when they are delayed. 

This means the real-world patient experience, where patients are greeted and managed by the clinic staff until it’s time to meet the provider, has been very different from the online experience for both patient and provider. That’s about to change!

The Real World, Online

The first step to modelling your real-world clinic workflow in doxy.me is to create a shared Reception room where all your patients can check in. You might grant access to clinic staff who work directly with patients for pre- or post-appointment tasks.

One Link for all Patients

With your Reception room ready for use, all patients can receive the same Reception room link and check in there at the time of their appointment, just like in your real-world practice. Now office staff will have a single view of all waiting patients, including their wait times.

Complete pre-appointment tasks in Reception

After a patient checks in to the Reception room, your office staff can greet them, complete pre-appointment tasks such as teleconsent or collecting a copay, and then have the patient wait in Reception—just pause the call to return them to the waiting room.

When the provider is ready, a couple of clicks will transfer the patient to the provider, who can then start the call.

Provider is Automatically Notified on Transfer

If Notifications are on, the provider will receive a text or on screen notification letting them know the patient is in their room so they can start the appointment.

After the appointment is complete, the provider can transfer the patient back to Reception, for example to schedule the next appointment. Reception can also receive a notification when the patient is transferred back to them.

Simplify the Patient Queue

Transfer simplifies the provider’s patient queue, as patients now wait in the Reception room and only appear in the provider’s queue when transferred there at the time of their appointment. 

No More Drop-ins to Provider Rooms

A Reception room also removes the frustration for providers when patients check in to their room without an appointment. Now, because the patients only have the Reception room link, they can “drop-in” to ask a question or schedule an appointment without impacting the provider—the Reception team then takes care of that person as they would if the patient called by phone. Just ensure your waiting room shows emergency options and business hours, in case patients drop in outside normal hours.

A Simple Feature with Big Impact

By simply setting up a Reception room, and providing that link to all of your patients, you can mirror the workflow of your real-world clinic to improve the patient experience and make life easier for your office staff as they manage your patient flow.

Most of all, Transfer frees up time and lowers stress for providers, so they can focus on making that caring connection with their patients.

Find the Best Workflow

Not sure of the best doxy.me workflow for your clinic? Use our workflow selector tool to find out.

The post Transfer will Transform your Clinic appeared first on Doxy.me.

But be honest with me: in your secret heart, would you be relieved? Fewer telehealth connections, less email, fewer media distractions, maybe a chance to breathe or go outside! It might be the best thing ever.

Our constant connection to work has caused many of us to feel low-level stress almost all the time. This article published in May 2020 says “Our ability to remain virtually connected … is not without an unintended fallout: physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion beyond what living through a pandemic is causing.”

Take a breather

Maybe the thing we need to do to improve our wellness is to enforce this internet rationing ourselves. We could pretend the internet is unavailable for 15 minutes and find a little distance from our offices or exam rooms.

When I reach a fatigue point, I occasionally “walk the perimeter.” I stop my work, go outside, and walk slowly around my yard. I think about what I’ll do to that plum tree in the spring, what I can do on the weekend to make things look better, or what it will take to fix that fence. It’s a different kind of creativity, and it’s more physical than sitting in front of my screen. It really helps me shake off the dull ache in my eyes and puts some energy into my brain. I’m privileged to work from home, but maybe you can find a place to just stroll and think, even if it’s around a parking lot.

Do something for yourself once a day

It’s nice to walk away for a few minutes, but it’s only a little relief. Our brains are constantly stimulated to solve problems or respond to questions, and we often feel a weight on our minds and shoulders that doesn’t go away when we end our workday. “To counteract this,” says the Journal of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, “We can build simple activities into our daily routine to help us center and recharge.”

Find one thing you can do for yourself every day, something you commit to, something  that you can do even if the weather is bad or your friend flakes on the schedule. The journal article suggests: 

• Prayer Time
• A 5-minute guided meditation
• YouTube yoga video
• Breathing exercises
• Mindfulness coloring
• Anything else that makes you feel centered and at peace

Unplug to cope with stress

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers stress to be a major component of living with the pandemic. “Learning to cope with stress in a healthy way will make you, the people you care about, and those around you become more resilient.”

The CDC suggests that we “Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including those on social media…. Hearing about the pandemic constantly can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple times a day and disconnecting from phone, tv, and computer screens for a while.”

Being plugged in isn’t all bad. In this blog post we talked about how telemedicine has helped reduce stress for healthcare workers. In this case, screen time saved healthcare workers from the effects of the pandemic in their work lives. Also, now that we are seeing some patients in person, we can again experience the in-person care we were trained for.  In the end, we are the only true measure of how we’re doing, and we should be honest with ourselves about our levels of fatigue and stress.

We have all created new routines and coping mechanisms during the pandemic, and of course in most cases we are doing the best we can. However, if we consider planned and mindful breaks from our routines, and especially from screen time and the internet, we might find a whole new level of wellness. 

The post Is There an Easy Way to Walk Away from Stress? appeared first on Doxy.me.

Remember: a laptop or a phone is often a good telemedicine solution, but a more permanent setup shows a lot of professionalism. Use this guide to level up your video communication!

Docking Station

If you’re connecting devices to a laptop, you might have limited ports for external equipment. Consider using a docking station that connects your laptop to a monitor, camera, and microphone. 

USB C

USB C Hub HDMI Adapter,QGeeM 7 in 1 Type C Hub to HDMI 4k,3 USB 3.0 Ports,100W Power Delivery

USB 2.0

USB to HDMI Adapter, 5-in-1 USB hub

External Cameras

The camera is the most important part of your video experience. It’s how you present yourself to your patients. A device you attach to your monitor, or even a monitor with a built-in camera, improves how you interact with your patient, especially because it helps you simulate “eye contact.” 

Most popular webcam

Logitech C920s Pro HD

Best high end webcam

Logitech Brio (4K)

Best affordable webcam

Logitech C310

Monitor with built-in webcam

ASUS BE24EQK 23.8” Business Monitor with Webcam

Budget monitor with webcam 

KOORUI 24 Inch Monitor, Full HD 1080p IPS LED Computer Monitor

Microphones

Ensuring that your patients can hear you is essential to good communication. A lapel mic is often the most convenient way to be heard, but your setup might benefit from a microphone on your desk.

Lapel mic

Professional Grade Lavalier Lapel Microphone Omnidirectional Mic

Basic lapel mic

PoP voice Professional Lavalier Lapel Microphone Omnidirectional Condenser Mic

Desktop 

High-end mic

Apogee Hype Mic – USB Microphone

Mid-level stand-alone mic

Yeti Nano premium USB microphone

Low-end stand-alone Mic

Blue Snowball iCE Plug ‘n Play USB Microphone

Speakers

If making yourself heard is essential, so is hearing your patients. Here are some options that connect to different kinds of hardware setups.

Desktop Speakers

Speakers with wires – USB

Amazon Basics USB Plug-n-Play Computer Speakers for PC or Laptop

Speakers with wires – jacks

Logitech S120 2.0 Stereo Speakers

Monitors with speakers

Budget monitor with speakers

Sceptre IPS 24-Inch Business Computer Monitor 1080p 75Hz with HDMI VGA Build-in Speakers

High-end monitor with speakers

SAMSUNG T550 Series 27-Inch FHD 1080p Computer Monitor, 75Hz, Curved, Built-in Speakers

Mic/Speaker combo

High-end speaker combo

Bose Micro Soundlink

Budget speaker/mic combo

USB Speakerphone Microphone, Conference Speaker Omnidirectional Computer Mic

Headsets

Headsets combine a mic with headphones. These are ideal if you’re working in a noisy space or where other people can hear you and your patient. 

Bluetooth with mics

Apple iPhone Airpods

Jabra Elite 7 Pro

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

Budget option

The EveryDay Earbuds+

Headsets with mic

Higher end headset w mic

BINNUNE Wireless Gaming Headset with Microphone for PC

Basic headset

Logitech H390 Wired Headset

Lighting

The key to good lighting is to have the light source in front of you, not behind. Also, strong light from the side (such as from a window) can overwhelm your camera and cause your image to appear very dark.

Higher End Lighting

Lume Cube Video Conference Lighting Kit

Basic Ring light

Bekada LED Desk Light with Clamp

NOTE: Ring lights can be hard to use if you are wearing glasses—the reflection of the light in your glasses can be distracting.

Conclusion

This guide will help you make decisions about your telemedicine gear. You might want to buy more powerful equipment than you need so you can grow into it over time. Remember: computer hardware is always getting better and faster. Make a good choice now and you won’t be haunted by buyer’s remorse when you see better, faster, and cooler things next year. 

The post It’s time to upgrade your telemedicine hardware! appeared first on Doxy.me.

COVID-19 made this all worse as the number of patients overwhelmed hospital staff.  Healthcare workers (HCWs) were seeing patients with new symptoms and vulnerabilities. Resources such as masks and ventilators were increasingly unavailable. HCWs were slowly crushed by emotional and physical exhaustion. 

Stress seems to grow and grow

Worse still, descriptions of the phenomenon from HCWs suggest that burnout is contagious—attitudes and behaviors spread throughout teams that work closely together. 

Healthcare workers often make hard decisions with patients who have no ability to speak for themselves. The burden of those decisions can create moral and ethical distress that results in anxiety and depression. Often the decisions are made through cell phones. Families join the decision-making process electronically because they can’t be in the room with the patient.

Stress has even caused some HCWs to abandon their careers to find relief. Almost 20% of US healthcare workers have left the profession since the pandemic began.

Fortunately, telemedicine has helped blunt the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare industry, relieving some HCWs from the stress that leads to burnout. 

How does telemedicine help?

To take some of the burden from frontline HCWs, telemedicine is being used for pre-admittance work such as intake, diagnostics, and lab/imaging analysis. Also, provider handoffs, debriefs, and on-call specialist consultation can happen through video. This relieves staff from being on-site for every phase of treatment. 

In fact, telemedicine resources are now being used to place on-call mental health providers in hospitals for use by the staff. When something unexpected or awful happens, there’s always someone who can provide emotional support in a crisis.

Many mental health providers have stories about how telemedicine allowed them to continue their practices during the pandemic. They talk about how telehealth has had a positive effect on them and on their patients. It has allowed them to maintain an appropriate level of care.
In a recent study, approximately 30% of the providers felt that telemedicine relieved symptoms of burnout. About 36% agreed that their work-life balance has improved because of telemedicine. More than 40% of providers who responded preferred telemedicine over office visits.

Some mental health providers have nearly doubled their daily use of telemedicine since the COVID-19 pandemic so they can stay on track with their patient schedule. Providers of all kinds are more comfortable using telemedicine now, and most expect to use it even after the pandemic.

People use all kinds of tools to solve all kinds of problems, and telemedicine is a tool that has seen increased use throughout the pandemic. Implementing video communications in healthcare situations has reduced stress for frontline HCWs, helping relieve some of their burnout symptoms. Telemedicine will continue to be a powerful tool in all areas of healthcare.

The post Is Telemedicine the Solution to Healthcare Worker Burnout? appeared first on Doxy.me.