Telemedicine for Physicians: Opportunity to Practice Better Medicine?

You obviously want to provide your patients with high-quality care and you want to be the best physician you can be. But, if you’re overworked or stressed, it could result in physician burnout. If this happens, not only will you find it more and more difficult to get through your days at work, but the quality of care for your patients may decline as well.

The Burnout, Stress and Overworked Factors

Did you know that overall,42 percent of physicians are suffering from burnout?  And, burnout doesn’t just negatively affect the experience your patients have at your office, it can also affect patient outcomes adversely. When your extremely tired or distracted during a patient visit, you’re not paying complete attention to what they’re telling you. This could cause you to miss important history information which could indicate a completely different health problem than what your patients initially came into your office for.

Being overworked and experiencing stress are other factors. There are various reasons why physicians become so stressed, it prevents them from performing their jobs effectively. Some common reasons why you could become stressed are:

• A lack of autonomy when working with patients.
• A lack of control over the way you use your time.
• Feeling pressured to provide care to as many patients each day as
• possible to maintain the profitability of your organization.

Because of this, healthcare doctors often report their work-life balance is poorer than individuals working in other fields.  Fortunately, there is a newer approach many physicians are taking these days to avoid burnout, stress and distractions and improve the quality of patient care — telemedicine.

Telemedicine for Physicians

Telemedicine is healthcare facilitated by means of phone, video and other telecommunications technology to provide patient care without the need for a face-to-face visit.

There’s been a transformation in the physician/patient relationship over the past 20 years and the arrival of telemedicine technology has contributed to this greatly, particularly in recent years. Advanced technologies provide telemedicine opportunities for physicians that can alleviate some of the challenges that afflict the healthcare system like access to convenient care. A lot of organizations all over the country have begun taking advantage of telemedicine to improve: 

• Patient experience
• Operational efficiency
• Financial portfolios

Steth IO Health for Telemedicine

But, telemedicine should be more than a phone or video call. Most available telemedicine tools today don’t have exam capabilities, like Steth IO. The device within the Steth IO Health umbrella is ideal for home use, which makes it an efficient telemedicine platform.

Steth IO is an iPhone app that turns your phone into a stethoscope. It’s made of three components:

• A software app you download from the AppStore
• A case that fits right on your iPhone
• Assisted Intelligence (AI) to help you make diagnoses with confidence

The case, which is beautifully designed, has an integrated audio waveguide which works by filtering sounds the diaphragm sends and presents them to the microphone. The iPhone’s software app does the rest. Steth IO stethoscope contains a few pieces of technology, enabling an array of features that are designed for improving the information you  have to diagnose and monitor your patients.

Steth IO Health introduces true telemedicine to your patients at home by allowing remote patient exams and monitoring. Patient exams provide valuable data that can affect your clinical decision making and improve patient satisfaction and experience. Being able to expand your practice beyond the walls of your office will allow you to:

• Create a hybrid practice
• Reduce physician burnout
• Increase the efficiency of patient care

Reasons to Look into Telemedicine Opportunities for Physicians

There are several reasons why you’d want to practice telemedicine, including:

1. Get Paid for Follow-Up Calls

Many physicians spend time each day answering messages from patients and making phone calls to follow-up or inform of new conditions. With telemedicine, you can perform this follow-up service over video, have a more personalized visit and even receive reimbursement for this care you provide.

2. Have More Flexibility

Telemedicine provides a great opportunity for doctors in different stages of their career such as:

• Established physicians who would like to supplement their income
• Newly graduated residents who’re looking to explore career settings
• Clinicians who are planning on retiring and would like to phase out their practice and maybe work from home instead

3. Have Improved Access to Care

Telemedicine enables you to provide enhanced access for acute issues during and after office hours. Those patients who aren’t accustomed to being able to visit a board-certified doctor in the middle of the night when struggling with a sudden problem will be happy to have access to this on-demand care. 

This will also improve continuity since you’re caring for the acute conditions under your brand and practice instead of by the local urgent-care center or emergency room. This will naturally build up loyalty and trust to you and your practice and keep your patients experiencing only mild conditions out of the ER.

4. Realize Lower Costs

Another essential advantage of telemedicine is lower costs for you. You not only have another chargeable service to your bottom line, but this lower overhead could mean greater overall quality of care. 

5. Benefit from Streamlined Care

EMT’s can take video conferencing in their ambulance, allowing them to send information, including important clinical data or images to a trauma team waiting at the ER. And, this results in streamlined care and substantial savings in treatment costs and time.

Telemedicine doesn’t just appeal to physicians because it makes things simpler (though it definitely can). It is a necessary and unique approach to healthcare, allowing you the freedom to provide care that works best for you and your patients. It also provides patients with more flexibility in managing their health.

While it’s not a new technology anymore, telemedicine continues to be a buzz word across the medical industry and for good reason. With telemedicine, you no longer have to rely on time-consuming and costly in-person visits, you can now rely on video visits, like Steth IO Health, and other means of examining, treating and managing your patients with medical problems. Contact us to learn more.