Thursday, June 4, 2020

Thursday in Family Medicine 2020. Technology and People

Wash hands, temperature taken, select mask for the morning, liberal use of hand sanitizer.
Check patient schedule (again, having checked it at the end of yesterday):  Who, What type of visit (video, phone, office), Why are they scheduled? Acute, chronic, preventive focus (although, since I'm a Family Physician, often we cover all three in one visit).  Set up context for the day and first visit.  Make space for two laptops- one for video visit, one for EMR- ,forms/paper space (since I'm a "Geezer", I still write in a paper record as the patient tells their story- suitably illegible at times, but meaningful to me) telephone, and a bottle of water or cup of green tea.

I don't yet have a green screen behind me or a variable background that I noted on a Zoom feed with one of my sons, an academic physician at the University of North Carolina, last week.  Geezers take a while to catch up to cool trends.  I don't have the headset that I would like yet, but the mic in the computer is incredibly good.  It's a start.

Connection difficulties arise with about 20% of patients, especially with the video visits, about issues with sound usually.  Sometimes they can't get the video connection.  There is a software download factor that is a stumbling block for some phones or computers.  My office had some WiFi problems til finally getting a new WiFi and new router.  We're making progress.

The video visits are especially informative about the life of the patient.  Sometimes family members show up as well as pets, art, memorabilia, etc.  We're learning.

More later.

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