Telehealth has accelerated over the last couple of years, where healthcare professionals had already begun implementing telehealth into their practices. Even Healthcare providers in smaller and solo practices prefer to adopt telehealth over losing their patients. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a new way for providers to connect with their patients. It can be intimidating for patients who are new to telehealth process. To prepare your patients prior to their telehealth visit appointments, there are ways to ensure patients make the most of it.
To Make Telehealth Appointment
To book a telehealth appointment, for the first time, it can be unsettling for the patients to know the next steps. To improve the experience of the patient, they can use a digital communication platform to book an appointment. An appointment confirmation notification is sent to the patient with details for the telehealth visit. In order to set up the patient with a successful telehealth experience, it is best to provide the specifics around technical and hardware requirements in advance. By assisting patients with technical issues and allow them to have enough time to prepare ahead of time. In this busy world, it is easy to miss out of appointments, by setting up reminders to let your patients be aware of telehealth visit appointments in advance. Letting your patients know ahead of time when there are multiple staff members attending the telecall. This allows your patients to be well prepared and not be surprised in the session while sharing their personal health information and vital data.
Getting ready for Telehealth Call
With the checklist of things to do, it can be overwhelming for the patients to remember and have total control of external situations. The best way for your patients to have a successful telehealth call is to discuss the necessary instructions and basic expectations prior to their appointment – both verbally and in writing.
- Patients should be ready with a device with a stable camera such as a laptop, computer, smartphone or tablet with a working internet connection
- Patient will receive a message or an email with a link to click and join the telehealth call
- Patient whom the appointment is made for should be available during the video call, if the appointment is made for a minor, an adult should be present in the call
- Patient should have a well lit and quiet place with no background noise and distractions to attend the telehealth call
- Patient shall connect the call 10 minutes early, so as to test the viability of the appointment link before the actual video call starts.
- Last but not the least, do not hesitate in asking questions.
Since the importance of telehealth is recognized by healthcare professionals, it is highly recommended to plan the workflow of telehealth schedules and appointments ahead of time. Conducting, evaluating, preparedness of patients and follow-ups post telehealth visits would encourage patients and healthcare professionals to use the telehealth services in a productive manner.
Learn more about OnCall Health, Guardian EMR’s telehealth partner
Prepared By: Anupriya Saxena (MBA)