The progressive depth of the technology in the different layers of the health system, especially in the most critical months of the pandemic, continues to raise different currents of debate among professionals. What ‘red lines’ must not be crossed in the telemedicine? What role does it have in the relationship between the professional and the patient? Julian Ezquerra gets back behind the microphone of his podcast ‘From my watchtower’ to evaluate possible limits of remote medicine and digitalization in the clinical approach.
Although the technological advances have made it possible to bridge the gap with the patient, especially in rural settings, and to increase the accuracy and efficiency of medical devices (such as the dermatoscope), the doctor does not see in them the panacea to all the problems that current health care presents. He fears, in this sense, that this “evolution” will be taken advantage of to replace the work and doctor’s time and shake the relationship between the professional and the patient.
Healthcare technology but no time to use it
In this sense, the expert analyzes those situations in which the phone calls and video conferences in care activity and those in which exploration and “visual, face-to-face and close” contact with the patient during the anamnesis should prevail.
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The time that digital processes can save is still not, in his opinion, enough for physicians in consultation when it comes to properly assessing the patient or even educate you on self-care. “What good is having an ultrasound machine if I don’t have time to use it,” she asks. Ezquerra asks not to confuse progress with the solution to lack of professionals and the opportunism that these alternative means of communication entail.
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