Video telehealth examinations under the spotlight

The MJA looks at the practicalities and benefits of video telehealth in providing physical examinations.

The AMA’s journal—the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)—this week examines the practicalities of video telehealth examinations in its weekly podcast and in a corresponding Insight+ article.

MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell speaks with Dr Maja Artandi from Stanford University and Dr Stephen Russell from the University of Alabama about the ways in which video telehealth is being used in physical examinations, and the complexities and issues that need to be navigated as the physical examination is mediated by telemedicine.

Noting that while the ‘digital divide’ still exists, and that poor internet connections can hamper telehealth, for many doctors and patients telehealth is a blessing. In terms of practicalities, Dr Artandi and Dr Russell note during the podcast that video telehealth examinations can enhance the doctor-patient connection and serve as an important diagnostic tool.

In the accompanying article Dr Artandi and Dr Russell say that telehealth will be a permanent part of the health system that needs to be taught to medical students.

“We expect the future generations of doctors to be good at this, so we need to teach it,” they told Insight+.

“If students learn to integrate telemedicine into their examinations, from the earliest days of learning the examination, it’s going to be more helpful for them, not only to understand what’s effective in a telemedicine space but it also may open up some opportunities for research.”