As the advancement of telecommunication, telemedicine is gaining popularity among the public. Through real-time video communication, healthcare practitioners can provide instant diagnoses or proper guidance to patients. There are a wide range of benefits, which is also followed by numerous drawbacks.
On one hand, telemedicine can bring practical benefits both to healthcare providers and patients. By visiting patients remotely, the hospitals could prevent themselves from overwhelming. If most patients with certain chronic diseases can receive suggestions on prescriptions online, the capacity of hospitals could be preserved for emergency use only. Therefore, the public resources could be utilized more efficiently. Additionally, the cost of commuting could be saved for patients. Because it is unnecessary for them to visit doctors in person, the time and money for commuting between hospitals and homes can be utilized for other purposes. Moreover, telemedicine would play a crucial role in mental health counseling. As inspecting mental diseases may not require particular medical instrument, caregivers can offer instructions instantly to avoid further mental sufferings of patients.
On the other hand, the challenges and drawbacks exerted by telemedicine cannot be neglected. To start with, misdiagnose may happen due to the dime light or poor quality of cameras. If the environment is not suitable for a doctor to make inspection, the practitioner may give improper diagnose or even cannot identify the ailments. Besides, the lack of proper inspection by medical facilities may lead to difficulties to make right diagnoses. This may result in delay of receiving proper care and treatment for the sick, which could incur irreversible repercussions. Furthermore, the profits of this emerging trend of remote diagnosing may attract unqualified or illegal practitioners to speculate on this market aiming to those with low computer savvy or lower medical literacy.
In conclusion, it is common to use telemedicine to conduct diagnoses, however, the constraints to specific illness and targeted patients still cannot be overlooked. There are a variety of benefits to this trend along with uncountable drawbacks.