2023-08-22 14:51:46
Teleconsultations carried out on specialized terminals in pharmacies have increased by nearly 57% since the beginning of 2023. A solution which makes it possible to relieve congestion in emergencies but not to replace the attending physician according to health professionals.
Faced with the shortage of doctors and the hospital crisis, the use of teleconsultation is increasing. According to the operator Medadom, one of the French leaders in telemedicine, teleconsultations carried out on its terminals and cabins installed throughout France have increased by nearly 57% since the start of the year: 22% more for the July alone, compared to the same month last year. And for good reason: in some towns such as Créances in the Manche, it is the only local care offer.
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In Créances, in the Manche department, when you’re sick, you don’t go to the doctor: there aren’t any left. On the other hand, we go to the pharmacy. “I came because I had a little mycosis on my tongue and no sensation, burns too, in relation to antibiotic treatment. I was advised to come there”, explains a patient.
Behind the counter, in a closed office, hides the teleconsultation booth. It was installed last December following the retirement of the only doctor in the town. Since then, meetings have been held behind a screen, helmet over the ears and charlotte over the head, for hygiene reasons.
Connected stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors and thermometers
“You put your Vitale card, you are made to wait as if you were at a classic doctor’s, details the patient. And then we send you a code that you click on your phone and then you have the doctor live”. If necessary, the pharmacist, Corine Launay, is never far away: “That’s a stethoscope, which is connected. That’s an oximeter, to see oxygen saturation; it’s also connected. And there, it’s a blood pressure monitor and a thermometer. And then there’s the camera. From time to time, patients need help.”
“I’m happy, slips the patient out of the cabin. If I had had something more important, I would have gone somewhere else, to the hospital or whatever. But there, for something benign, it suits me very well“.
A solution for “little sores”
The cabin is only designed for non-scheduled care, warns the health professional. “Under no circumstances can a teleconsultation booth replace a general practitioner. On the other hand, I find that it is a good solution when you have minor injuries, such as an insect bite.a fever of 40° or cystitis… This has all the same made it possible to disengage a lot of complex situations, where people were in medical wandering, and this makes it possible not to clog the emergency room”.
A solution to the shortage of doctors, essential in this village, but not optimal for all that. The teleconsultation cabin can accommodate up to eight patients a day, where a doctor can see regarding thirty.
Medical teleconsultations on the rise: report by Laura Lavenne
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