We live in the era of communication, or so they say. Today even the shopkeeper in the corner has Facebook, Twitter and mobile account with some communication tool. Even grandparents have learned to handle what they call the internet to see photos of grandchildren or hold conversations through the webcam.
So why not use all this technology to communicate with our children's pediatrician? We could send you an email with the symptoms that our child has, so that he can assess the urgency or not of a visit to the consultation. That's why I think 2.0 communication with our pediatrician brings mutual benefit.
There are times, especially at the beginning, when we have doubts about whether our child's symptoms are important enough to take him to the emergency room. We continually hear that the medical services are saturated and if we have gone to the emergency room we will have been able to verify that the waiting times can be lengthened excessively (that added to our own anxiety that certainly does not help at all).
Other times, we know that it is not urgent, a simple cold, a nocturnal cough that does not let anyone sleep at home, a skin rash, well, we already know that children are a magnet for all types of symptoms . In these cases, we simply need a few guidelines, maybe a syrup, a little paracetamol, or an ointment can solve the problem quickly, but what we really need most is the peace of mind that the pediatrician can give us confirming our first "home diagnosis." ".
Also, to our regret, there are diseases that require follow-up by a physician, which requires various displacements, either of the pediatrician, of us and our child and we already know how little some pediatrician visits like .
The e-mail: [email protected]
It was born almost at the same time that the Internet and its use today is so widespread that there are those who open an account for their son a few minutes after birth (I did it a few weeks before). We can tell our pediatrician our concerns, the symptoms that we observe, we can attach photos of the patient or we can receive instructions on how to act in a given case, when and how we should give the medication to our child or what we can expect in the next few hours.
It has the disadvantage that it cannot replace the face to face, but it is a cheap and not very intrusive method of communication with our pediatrician.
Webcam
It is a much more personal system and the closest thing to a face-to-face consultation than any other. Today any laptop comes with a built-in camera and the new smartphones all come with a built-in camera. A videoconference can help us explain in great detail the symptoms that we perceive, we can answer the questions that arise from the pediatrician, in short, that we can explain ourselves properly without leaving fringes that can lead to misinterpretations or leave us basic information to make a proper diagnosis.
The problem is that it is a very intrusive system, which may require planning schedules for consultation. It may be more a substitute for follow-up visits, scheduled consultations or scheduled situations. We must also bear in mind that a videoconference requires systems and a connection that we will not always have.
WhatsApp, Line, Passport
Who doesn't have any of them on mobile today, well, assuming we have a smartphone. They are one of the most widely used and widespread communication systems today. We use them for everything, from meeting friends, to letting us know that bread is uploaded, we send photos, files, etc. Little by little they have been replacing e-mail and emails. They have many advantages, but a great inconvenience and they need to know the mobile number and of course, if you know the mobile number ... It is not something that many professionals are willing to give their patients, unless they want to say goodbye to their life staff (remember that our children do not have to get sick during office hours)
Messenger, Hangouts
Similar to the previous ones, they had their peak years ago, but the appearance of mobile phones with internet connection and the proliferation of other messaging systems have relegated them almost to use with a computer. They have the great advantage that they don't need to know anyone's mobile number and that we can indicate whether or not we are available to talk.
Social networks, facebook, twitter, etc.
I do not see them to maintain a personal communication, but if they can be used to solve any generalized doubt or to deal with a subject in a superficial way, comment on any news or talk about a new drug or vaccine.
All these systems could help us to make the patient medical communication more fluid and "lighten" the times in the waiting rooms taking into account that they can never replace a visit in "flesh and blood", but if they can serve very Good for certain cases.
Surely we have many other cases in the pipeline and surely many of you can indicate some situation in which communications 2.0 could help you and make our lives more comfortable for everyone.
